Hoagland’s Hogwash: Islamophobia in the Washington Post

by Guest Contributor Fatemeh Fakhraie, originally published on Racialicious.

Jim Hoagland’s April 12, 2009 article for The Washington Post, entitled “The War Within Islam,” is the best example of “journalistic” Islamophobia I’ve seen in a reputable news source in quite a while. Hoagland has written for The Washington Post for several years, and his focus is on both national and international politics.

But in all his time at the Post, this is the first time he’s ever shown editorial concern for Muslim women. In fact, it’s only the second time he’s focused on Muslim women at all: in 2005, he wrote about the gains that Iraqi women gained in the 2005 elections. These two articles alone reflect a heavy-handed political paternalism that is amplified when he discusses the position of women in predominately Muslim societies. Get ready to see some serious faking concern for women to mask and justify martial occupation!

On a serious note, Hoagland opens by describing the recent video of a Pakistani girl being publicly whipped. This was a horrific occurrence, and no one should be made to suffer this way, publicly or privately. But Hoagland’s use of this video to illustrate the “brutality” of the local Taliban is misplaced because he ends up casting an illustrative net so wide that it catches all Muslim and Southwest Asian men, dehumanizing all instead of only a few. Which one is worse, I’m not sure.

While Hoagland attempted to differentiate between Islam and the political entities he discusses in last Sunday’s article by using specifics (“the Taliban’s version of Islamic law”; “Fanatical Islamic sects have framed their battle in holy terms and seek to destroy their faith’s mainstream values.”), any delineation is lost in his judgment-laden words and mischaracterizations of Afghan and Pakistani men.

The casual insertion of disparaging and condemnatory phrases, such as “…the local Taliban commander continues to flog her without mercy…”, “brutal subjugation of poor, uneducated women…”, and “The savage misogyny and feudal fury of the Swat Valley…”, paints a picture of a place where men are evil and women are victims. (emphasis mine) Instead of placing the blame on local manifestations of patriarchy, he hurls blame at local Taliban, not minding that his condemnation falls like misguided bombs on innocent men who have nothing to do with the Taliban or the public whipping in Pakistan.

Even without actually using the words “brutal” or “savage,” Hoagland successfully uses language to construct Afghan and Pakistani Muslim men as both: “The recent U.S. strategic review, … depict[s] the struggle in the desolate Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier as being rooted in fierce nationalism, the region’s ancient warrior culture, the failures of nation-building and the rebirth of jihadist terrorism.” Ancient warrior culture, huh? If that doesn’t convince you that these brown guys are also the bad guys, then what of “the desire of Pakistani and Afghan men to be left in peace to deal with their womenfolk as they see fit.”? Or “The savage misogyny and feudal fury of the Swat Valley are alien to modern, urban Turkey…” ?

There’s an interesting angle. The idea that Turkey is the “good” Muslim country, and Afghanistan and Pakistan are the “bad” ones is also racialized and Islamophobic. All three countries are predominately Muslim, but because of Turkey’s political/ideological identification with the white, non-Muslim West (particularly Europe), Turkey is the “tolerant, sophisticated” country, despite the fact that Turkey has just as many failings in women’s and human rights as Afghanistan and Pakistan do, both in its history and the present day.

Hoagland also drags out that old gem about Islam being incompatible with modernity: “All religions are absorbing the shocks of globalization. But none has felt more besieged than Islam as the flow of people, goods and instant communications across borders perturb or limit its deep reach into gender relations and family structures.” This paints Islam and Muslims as if they “can’t handle” modernization, and are thus not modern. Not to mention the myopic view that misses examples of religious extremism and gender backlashes from other faiths that have also grown with the rise of globalization.

The article is simply more of the same martial voices trying to camouflage themselves as “protectors of brown women from brown men” under the guise of politics. Hoagland’s judgmental phrases that cast Afghanistan, Pakistan, and everyone within their borders as innately and decidedly good-or-evil is not journalism, and it’s astonishing to see someone who has written about the region and its politics for so long know so little.

(Photo Credit: Xabier Mikel Laburu)

What Palestine Teaches Us About Ourselves

The following article was written by a friend of mine.  Upon request, the author is to remain anonymous.

A protest for the suffering of Palestinians was held in the streets of Washington DC. Did it make the news? Not likely.

Was I there? No.

For as vocal as I have been in my support for the suffering of the Palestinian people since and before these strikes in the Gaza strip began, I came to a realization, something that could not be ignored.

In times of trouble, when nothing makes sense in the world, one has a tendency to turn towards their crutch. For me this is Islam, a religion often maligned and distorted by the ignorant, and more often ignored by its followers due to its rigidity, its laws, and it’s often conflict with the modern world.

But like over a billion people in the world today, I take what Islam and more importantly the Qur’an to be as the Truth. There is always an answer in the Qur’an, often times we just don’t look hard enough.  There is a verse in Surah Al-Imran that states:

“Say: ‘O Allah. Lord of Power (and Rule), Thou givest power to whom Thou pleases, and Thou strippest off power from whom Thou pleases: Thou enduest with honor whom Thou pleases, and Thou bringest low whom Thou pleasest: In Thy hand is all good. Verily, over all things Thou hast power.’” [3:26]

Verily, Allah speaks the truth. Over all things He has power and over all things He rules. This type of thinking brought me back to Palestine. See Palestine, more specifically the 1.5 million people suffering in the Gaza strip, reveals something greater about the 1.6 billion “rest” of us. Here’s how…

An innocent black man gets shot and killed by local police. The streets are full of rioters. Leaders speak out. Local politicians are harassed. The system is forced to respond. The cops get paid leave. An investigation occurs. Sometimes the cops go to jail or sometimes they don’t depending on how south you go.

A little white girl disappears. You won’t stop hearing it on the news for months. Fox News, CNN, and your local stations will cover it on end till death. ATF, FBI, CIA, NSA, and however many three letter acronyms you can think of are out fervently searching for her.

800+ people die in a single week. There’s a protest of about a 1,000 people through the streets chanting their chants, screaming their slogans. A candle light vigil is held. A “night of prayer and remembrance” is held at your local Masjid. But no politicians are harassed. No riots occur. No leaders speak up. No petitions signed. Nothing. Don’t get me wrong, praying is important. But one night? You can do that five times a day everyday anyways.

Where’s the pressure? Where are our outspoken leaders? Apparently there are 1 million Muslims in North America. Are you telling me that not one of them is rich? That not one of them holds a position of power where he could make even the smallest of differences? Are we that tame?

Or is it true that we have gotten comfortable living the middle American or upper middle American lifestyle? A lifestyle where allowing the deaths of your fellow brothers and sisters to go unpunished was acceptable. A lifestyle where you could feign caring with simple flag waving and the chanting of some cheers as long as you went home to your mansion to sleep at night. And how many actually lose sleep over this “conflict” affecting Gaza at the moment? If it was Pakistan, would the Pakistani community be up in arms? What if it were Iran, Egypt, or Morocco? Or do we really have to wait until they burn down Mecca before we as a people get off of our collective asses and “actually” do something about the state of the world we live in?

It must be so as the House of Representatives, even after Israel ignores U.N. laws, kills humanitarian aid workers, violates Egyptian air space, is caught conspiring to invade Iran, not to mention kill primarily civilians… the House states that Israel has the “right to defend” itself. By going into Palestine killing anything that moves? By that logic if Iraq and Afghanistan were to level every building in America above 100 feet, it could only be called “self-defense.”Forget the fact that 9/11 had its roots in the same type of hypocritical American foreign policy that now sees hundreds of defenseless Palestinians dying weeks on end.

So what does all this have to do with “us” in the west? We have our homes and comfortable beds to sleep in. We went out and did our little song and dance, wore our keffiyahs and prayed for our fellow brothers and sisters. We did all we could right?

Or do we have an obligation being blessed to live in a place where you don’t have to worry about constant death, where children make it through adolescence instead of biting the bullet of some IDF soldiers’ rifle? Should we all do as much as possible to make sure that this, all of this that is happening against Muslims end tomorrow? Should we be calling our representatives until 3 or 4 AM, should we be donating money and creating political action committees to harass politicians to death to do what we want? If you want to organize a march do a million persons march. Force them to close down half the streets to the city. If you want to show them that you are serious, be serious yourself. After all, that’s how Israel does it.

The Media vs. The Palestinians

The following article was written by my dear friend, Avi Silverberg.  It was originally published on his excellent new blog, “The Essential Gaza.” Please visit it to stay updated on the ongoing and turbulent crisis in Gaza.

When was the last time you turned on your TV? If, like most people, you answer “oh I had it on earlier”, then you have probably noticed the slant in coverage on the Gaza Conflict.

Let me get one thing straight, I am not a fan of conspiracy theories. I avoid conversation about conspiracy as much as I possibly can. I believe that they do more harm to the truth than outright lies do. So please do not look at this as some kind of a “news conspiracy, The Illuminati is going to get us all! Be scared!” type of article.

The night that the ground invasion began,while surfing the 300 or so channels that my family get, I noticed that not one of them was covering the invasion. Not FOX or ABC or CNN or even WHYY. MSNBC had nothing, nor did C-SPAN. Going through the menu, I saw that I would have to wait 2 hours before anything that would even remotely cover the invasion would be on.

I knew the radio was a joke. I like to listen to my AM stations occasionally to see what the other side is saying about things. But at the moment, I could not be bothered with extreme right-wing bias.

I thought I could hang out with my best friend Internet, so I ran upstairs. Upon being greeted by my customized for the latest news Google homepage, i noticed that the headlines for Google News and Yahoo News were giving me my stories. So were Digg and Fark, my second homes. As I clicked on each one, I noticed that the stories were surprisingly slanted and un-rightfully biased reposts of your typical ABC or FOX stories. Even Digg was letting me down. If you look at the comments for any of the stories, you will immediately see the hordes of pro-IDF and religious based posts. I am still uncertain if this is just a group posing as Digg members or if it is the true sentiments of some of the people that I thought of as an intelligent open community. Either way it is a sad state of affairs.

So many people in this world are not aware of the true nature of this massacre. So many people don’t even know that there is a massacre going on. Too many are constantly force-fed extreme bias and misinformation. We, as people of change, need to continue to do what we are already doing. We must continue to rally in our cities and towns. We must continue to educate people on the historical facts behind this slaughter. We must continue to fight with words and not with fists or violence. We must use what the Israeli government is afraid to use and that is rational thought and patience. We must promise the people of Palestine that we will continue to be heroes who will stand by them in their moment of need. That we will not just sit and watch this happen. One of the Five Pillars of Islam is “Charity”. What is more charitable then standing up for your brothers and sisters? That is a different kind of charity. That is spiritual charity and there is nothing else like it.

Continue to fight the fight! I’m with you.

Nationwide Demonstrations for Gaza

Thousands of Arabs, Muslims, and non-Muslims alike marched throughout the United States in protest to the recent Israeli airstrikes on Gaza which have killed nearly 400 people and wounded over 2,000. From Los Angeles to Chicago to New York, thousands of people refused to be silent and gathered to demonstrate against an atrocity that the mainstream media continues to report as “justifiable” and “self-defense.”  For 5 consecutive days, Israel did not stop its airstrikes and relentless launch of bombs and missiles, while President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Hamas for provoking the attacks.

What’s absolutely infuriating is that President Bush and the Israeli Prime Minister completely ignore the fact that Hamas fired rockets into Southern Israel because of the blockade Israel has placed on the people of Gaza.  The Israeli blockade on Gaza has been in action for months and the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the region have been unjustly deprived of food, water, medicine, and electricity. While Palestinians suffered and died without these basic necessities, the rest of the world stood by and ignored their plight.  President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert also didn’t mention that the Hamas rockets killed one Israeli and injured four civilians.  In response, Israel launched this devastating airstrike on Gaza which has killed nearly 400 people.  As Israel claims to be targeting Hamas and “terrorists,” all one needs to do is look at the bodies of the murdered Palestinians:  Children, teenagers, women, elderly, civilians, etc.  If this is not terrorism, genocide, or ethnic cleansing, then I don’t know what is.

I recently participated in a protest for Gaza in Philadelphia on Tuesday, December 30th.  The incredible display of energy, passion, and most of all, unity is what made the experience truly unforgettable and deeply touching.  I saw hundreds of people from all different ethnic and religious backgrounds:  Arabs, South Asians, Caucasians, African-Americans; Muslims, Jews, Christians, etc.  The way everyone came together brought back a sense of hope for me, especially regarding the Muslim community, which I tend to criticize a lot for not displaying enough unity.  The fact that other large protests took place in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and even in Syndney and London, shows the world how serious the Palestinian issue really is.  Protesters in Philadelphia held signs reading, “Obama, Obama, we need change!” and “Stop Killing the Children,” and “Time for Peace, Not War.”  Jewish protesters proudly marched in the streets and held signs reading “Philly Jews Say Not in My Name” and “Shalom, Salaam, Peace.”  Cheers and applause roared after Palestinian speakers urged President-Elect Barack Obama to fulfill his promise of change and bringing peace in the Middle-East.

As I welcome the new year, I can still hear the passionate shouts of “Free, Free Palestine!” and “Long Live Palestine!” and “Stop the Occupation Now!”  I could not bring myself to even acknowledge the new year without remembering and praying for the thousands of Palestinians suffering in Gaza right now.  We cannot forget the atrocities and we cannot stop raising our voices.  The more we speak up, the stronger our voices become.  May this new year be a beautiful and blessed one for you and your families.  May we all work towards bringing peace, understanding, and compassion into the world.  And may Allah answer our prayers and bring healing to all those who suffer in the world.  Ameen.

If you’re interested in watching the footage I video taped from the protest in Philadelphia, feel free to watch it below.  I interviewed some people and captured some really amazing displays of passion and unity.  The entire protest is divided into three parts.  The links for part 2 and 3 are provided below:

Emergency Protest for Gaza in Philadelphia - December 30th, 2008 - Part 2 of 3

Emergency Protest for Gaza in Philadelphia - December 30th, 2008 - Part 3 of 3

Merry Christmas Gaza

A friend of mine, Ahad Ahmed, wrote the following note on his Facebook page.  I believe it expresses the frustration and anger that many Muslims and non-Muslims alike feel about the brutal massacre in Gaza.

Here I am almost 12: 20 AM writing this note after reading preposterous headlines and listening to the B.S. commentary on the news. Anybody with a working television/radio set will understand that Israel has been bombing the effing daylights out of Gaza in the last 3-4 days. I guess I’m writing this because I honestly haven’t been this pissed off in many days. Ive never hated the Israelis so much after what they’ve been doing in the last few days. I must confess my hatred is renewed for the liars who lie in the face of murder.

For those of you who worship Fox news and her zealous affiliates you people may think I’m racist but I’m not.  I’m anti-Zionist, not antisemitic and only an American media system will not have you know the difference. First lets address your blatant ignorance of the issue by exposing what you already know and probably what you don’t know. If you for some reason think it was necessary to execute such a brutal airstrike that killed 250+ in the first 2-3 days alone then you are missing the fact that Israel has violated the so called “truce” over 1000 (one thousand, O-N-E THOUSAND) times. The things that live in Gaza are not plaster-dummies they are actual people!!

Whats really disappointing is When Israel starts destroying the lives of civilians in Gaza the media in America, who are supposed to be committed to the truth, tell us that Israel has been somehow very patient and tested with the rocket attacks and that they came out of nowhere or for some small reason. What the media will not tell you is that in the last six months Israel renewed its policy for home demolition in the occupied territories… yes that means more home demolition in the name of “fighting terrorists” and later more growth of settlements. A few Kassam rockets tick off the Israelis but me and my neighbors loose their home and we become terrorists for retaliating? what kind of F***** up logic is that?

So who suffers? OOO I know! I know! Hamas? Owww!! Close! But not really.. the answer is (drum roll) Palestinian Civilians! But that’s okay to the American and Israelis its mostly the same. Its so amazing how these people on CNN (Con-Artists’ News Network) always bring up the news of this with the sole history of Hamas launching Kassam rockets!! As if the whole history of this thing started with a few Kassam rockets which damaged comparatively nothing. ZERO.

On the other hand, Kudos to all the protesters around the world who actually know the history of Holy Land and remember it especially well since the year 2000 (over 5000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since then). I stand in solidarity with all those who denounce these attacks and denounce the racist and hateful ideas of every Zionist on the planet. We know the media in America is bull and we know the truth and we will attempt to silence the liars wherever we find them with the light of the wholesome truth. The millions of people all over Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas who are protesting this villainy and vilification give me hope. It warms my heart to know that so many are standing for the truth and denounce the lies of the Zionist greedy war-machine.

And to those who are convinced that Israel is the true bearer of patience and righteousness then I say to you no matter how much you want to believe in the fairytale of the American media we will always be there countering it with the truth. We only ask that you listen to the cries of the Palestinians who are being murdered right now in the name of democracy and in the name of fighting terrorism (LIE!), yes women and children too, just once!  In the meantime we will be on the streets, papers, and yes Facebook giving you the truth because in truth lies peace and then and only then can we sleep knowing that innocent Palestinians are not dying in vain.

Also Merry Christmas Gaza, I’m sure its been for those Christians who didn’t anticipate their own death the day after Jesus was born…