Folly of exporting democracy at gun point
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Zahid Zamir
Seven years ago on September 11 one of the most heinous acts in the history of human civilisation was perpetrated by hate mongers and terrorists in the name of religion.
The September 11 attack on the Twin Towers of New York left nearly 3000 people including 50 Muslims dead.
Since 9/11, 2001, the Bush administration subjected 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants to fingerprinting special registration, 8,000 were questioned extensively by the FBI, and over 5,000 non-nationals were arrested and detained for technical violation of immigration rules under the so-called Patriot Act. More shocking were the 400 indictments against Muslims and Arabs. Nearly all of them were frequently shown on television but with no proven charges of terrorism connections.
In the aftermath of the horror of 9/11, criticisms were made that Muslim leaders and organisations were not outspoken enough in denouncing this act of terrorism. Muslims are perplexed by this accusation. In fact, the inhuman act of September 11 were condemned in the strongest terms by virtually all Islamic leaders, organisations, and countries. The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia said, "hijacking planes, terrorising innocent people and shedding blood, constitute a form of injustice that cannot be tolerated by Islam, which views them as gross crimes and sinful acts."
The Fiqh council of North America in a statement, right after September 11, 2001 said, "This condemnation of violence is deeply rooted in true Islamic values based on the Qur'anic instructions which consider the unjust killing of a single person equivalent to the killing of all humanity." Those who perpetrated this heinous act might have Muslim identities, but due to their Muslim identities, this dreadful act can not be labeled as Islamic terrorism, just as it cannot be called Jewish terrorism if the perpetrators are Jews or Christian Terrorism if the perpetrators are Christians.
Muslims in general are in a state of crisis. But their most daunting problems are not religious, rather those are geopolitical, economic and social-problems that have caused widespread Muslim despair and, in some cases, militancy.
Most Muslims live in the developing world, much of which was colonised by western powers until 50 years ago. Not all Muslim shortcomings emanate from colonialism and neo-imperialism, but several do. As part of the spoils of the First World War, Britain and France helped themselves to occupy or control much of the Ottoman Empire, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. Much of Palestine is now Israel.
In recent years, the United States has maintained repressive proxy regimes in the Middle East to stifle public anti-Israel sentiments, keep control of oil and maintain a captive market for armaments. Hundreds of millions live in zones of conflict, precisely in the areas of European and American meddling, the past and present-US occupied Iraq, the US-controlled Afghanistan, the Israeli-occupied territories and the disputed territory on the border of India and Pakistan in the foothills of the Himalayas. These conflicts, along with the economic sanctions on Iraq have killed an estimated 1.3 million Muslims in the last 15 years alone. In addition, nearly 400 million Muslims live under authoritarian despots, many of them Western puppets, whose corruption and incompetence have left their people in economic and social shambles. It is against this backdrop that one must look at the current malaise of Muslims and their increasing emotional reliance on their faith.
The United States and its allies are fighting terrorism in the name of exporting freedom and democracy to the Muslim world without solving the root causes of the problems that led some people and groups around the globe to fight the west. The conviction that fundamentalism and terrorism emanate from lack of democracy and freedom and therefore democracy and freedom must be exported to those countries by hook or by crook has not only failed to reduce terrorism and fundamentalism but aggravated the situation and increased terrorism all around the world. As Benjamin R. Barbar, a distinguished fellow at Demos and a Professor at University of Maryland said, "The conviction that Islam cannot accommodate democracy is rooted in a shallow and incomplete understanding of Islam. But it is also true that democracy cannot accommodate Islam is rooted in a shallow and incomplete understanding of democracy -- one that tends to assimilate democratisation to Americanisation or westernisation or marketisation. It is tied to the false view that there is but one kind of democracy, one road to liberty, one formula for translating the theory of justices into practices. So the Bush-Cheney Doctrine of exporting democracy is an absolute illusion. No people have ever been liberated from the outside at the point of gun. An invader can overthrow a tyrant, but cannot create a democracy by doing so. Similarly freedom cannot be given to others; it must be won by those who seek it from inside".
Democracy is distinctive from one society to another and the road to democracy comes not from imitation but from excavation and invention. And for the citizen of a country to establish democracy, it must be constructed bottom up, not top down. First educate citizens and do the hard slow work of making a civil society then build a political infrastructure on top of it. The Americans had a hundred years of experience with municipal liberty and citizen competence before they declared independence. Democracy takes time and patience to grow goots. Democracy is built bottom up. The elections come last, not first. The rush to vote is generally a sign that the ground for democracy has not been prepared and when voting occurs in the absence of educated and competent citizens, the prospects for liberty and justice will be poor. Noble laureate Dr. Yunus in his Noble Prize lecture in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 2006 after receiving the peace prize said, "I believe terrorism cannot be defeated by military action. Terrorism must be condemned in the strongest language. We must stand solidly against it, and find all means to end it. We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time to come. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of poor people is a better strategy than spending it on guns. Peace should be understood in a human way -- in a broad social, political and economic way. Peace is threatened by an unjust economic, social and political order, absence of democracy, environmental degradation and absence of human rights."
By supporting repressive regimes and occupying territories the frustration, hostility and anger of the masses cannot be solved by exporting democracy at gun point. The world needs to understand the deep rooted causes of people's frustrations and anger.
TE Lawrence wrote, "better to let people do it imperfectly than to do it yourself perfectly: for it is their country, their way and your time is short. If democracy means anything it means the right for people to make their own mistakes, to practice their own religion and to pursue their own forms of self-government".
The writer teaches at York College, City University of New York and is a research fellow of IERF
Seven years ago on September 11 one of the most heinous acts in the history of human civilisation was perpetrated by hate mongers and terrorists in the name of religion.
The September 11 attack on the Twin Towers of New York left nearly 3000 people including 50 Muslims dead.
Since 9/11, 2001, the Bush administration subjected 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants to fingerprinting special registration, 8,000 were questioned extensively by the FBI, and over 5,000 non-nationals were arrested and detained for technical violation of immigration rules under the so-called Patriot Act. More shocking were the 400 indictments against Muslims and Arabs. Nearly all of them were frequently shown on television but with no proven charges of terrorism connections.
In the aftermath of the horror of 9/11, criticisms were made that Muslim leaders and organisations were not outspoken enough in denouncing this act of terrorism. Muslims are perplexed by this accusation. In fact, the inhuman act of September 11 were condemned in the strongest terms by virtually all Islamic leaders, organisations, and countries. The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia said, "hijacking planes, terrorising innocent people and shedding blood, constitute a form of injustice that cannot be tolerated by Islam, which views them as gross crimes and sinful acts."
The Fiqh council of North America in a statement, right after September 11, 2001 said, "This condemnation of violence is deeply rooted in true Islamic values based on the Qur'anic instructions which consider the unjust killing of a single person equivalent to the killing of all humanity." Those who perpetrated this heinous act might have Muslim identities, but due to their Muslim identities, this dreadful act can not be labeled as Islamic terrorism, just as it cannot be called Jewish terrorism if the perpetrators are Jews or Christian Terrorism if the perpetrators are Christians.
Muslims in general are in a state of crisis. But their most daunting problems are not religious, rather those are geopolitical, economic and social-problems that have caused widespread Muslim despair and, in some cases, militancy.
Most Muslims live in the developing world, much of which was colonised by western powers until 50 years ago. Not all Muslim shortcomings emanate from colonialism and neo-imperialism, but several do. As part of the spoils of the First World War, Britain and France helped themselves to occupy or control much of the Ottoman Empire, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. Much of Palestine is now Israel.
In recent years, the United States has maintained repressive proxy regimes in the Middle East to stifle public anti-Israel sentiments, keep control of oil and maintain a captive market for armaments. Hundreds of millions live in zones of conflict, precisely in the areas of European and American meddling, the past and present-US occupied Iraq, the US-controlled Afghanistan, the Israeli-occupied territories and the disputed territory on the border of India and Pakistan in the foothills of the Himalayas. These conflicts, along with the economic sanctions on Iraq have killed an estimated 1.3 million Muslims in the last 15 years alone. In addition, nearly 400 million Muslims live under authoritarian despots, many of them Western puppets, whose corruption and incompetence have left their people in economic and social shambles. It is against this backdrop that one must look at the current malaise of Muslims and their increasing emotional reliance on their faith.
The United States and its allies are fighting terrorism in the name of exporting freedom and democracy to the Muslim world without solving the root causes of the problems that led some people and groups around the globe to fight the west. The conviction that fundamentalism and terrorism emanate from lack of democracy and freedom and therefore democracy and freedom must be exported to those countries by hook or by crook has not only failed to reduce terrorism and fundamentalism but aggravated the situation and increased terrorism all around the world. As Benjamin R. Barbar, a distinguished fellow at Demos and a Professor at University of Maryland said, "The conviction that Islam cannot accommodate democracy is rooted in a shallow and incomplete understanding of Islam. But it is also true that democracy cannot accommodate Islam is rooted in a shallow and incomplete understanding of democracy -- one that tends to assimilate democratisation to Americanisation or westernisation or marketisation. It is tied to the false view that there is but one kind of democracy, one road to liberty, one formula for translating the theory of justices into practices. So the Bush-Cheney Doctrine of exporting democracy is an absolute illusion. No people have ever been liberated from the outside at the point of gun. An invader can overthrow a tyrant, but cannot create a democracy by doing so. Similarly freedom cannot be given to others; it must be won by those who seek it from inside".
Democracy is distinctive from one society to another and the road to democracy comes not from imitation but from excavation and invention. And for the citizen of a country to establish democracy, it must be constructed bottom up, not top down. First educate citizens and do the hard slow work of making a civil society then build a political infrastructure on top of it. The Americans had a hundred years of experience with municipal liberty and citizen competence before they declared independence. Democracy takes time and patience to grow goots. Democracy is built bottom up. The elections come last, not first. The rush to vote is generally a sign that the ground for democracy has not been prepared and when voting occurs in the absence of educated and competent citizens, the prospects for liberty and justice will be poor. Noble laureate Dr. Yunus in his Noble Prize lecture in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 2006 after receiving the peace prize said, "I believe terrorism cannot be defeated by military action. Terrorism must be condemned in the strongest language. We must stand solidly against it, and find all means to end it. We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time to come. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of poor people is a better strategy than spending it on guns. Peace should be understood in a human way -- in a broad social, political and economic way. Peace is threatened by an unjust economic, social and political order, absence of democracy, environmental degradation and absence of human rights."
By supporting repressive regimes and occupying territories the frustration, hostility and anger of the masses cannot be solved by exporting democracy at gun point. The world needs to understand the deep rooted causes of people's frustrations and anger.
TE Lawrence wrote, "better to let people do it imperfectly than to do it yourself perfectly: for it is their country, their way and your time is short. If democracy means anything it means the right for people to make their own mistakes, to practice their own religion and to pursue their own forms of self-government".
The writer teaches at York College, City University of New York and is a research fellow of IERF