Thoughts about Religious and Cultural Sensitivity

   Last week’s events have shown us that religious and cultural sensitivity should be our foremost concern when selecting a way of approaching our world. Our motto for today should be “Think before you write/talk/film/draw/publish.”

   The First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights justly prohibits any governmental limitation of freedoms of speech or the press. However, freedom of speech should have its limitations – if not by the government, then by people themselves. In both recent and historic instances, this freedom has been cynically exploited in order to arouse regional and global rioting. Did the producer of the film Innocence of Muslims expect to cause of the death of innocent people? I believe not. Should he have taken this under consideration? Yes. Nevertheless, like many others who lack religious and cultural sensitivity, and who see Muslims as people with no sense of humor – he didn’t care, and people lost their lives due to his indifference.    

   This indifference, and worse, the malicious joy of too many people seeing the Muslims’ rage against the American film and the French cartoons make me sad. Have we lost our compassion? What have we become? What is the point of making these films and publishing these cartoons? I find it impossible to understand. If we want to earn the respect of others, let us start by respecting them. Enough is enough.

   Indifference to religious and cultural sensitivity goes beyond silly pictures or amateur movies and might cultivate fertile ground for new terrorists. With the right words, this apathy might be wrongly used by a militant Imam or a terrorist recruiter to influence a young man or a woman. Because that is the strongest weapon of all – words. True, one might say that a terrorist would become a terrorist regardless of a silly movie or cartoons, but we must not add fuel to the fire.

   Another outcome is the political gain for Muslim leaders that results from these riots, whether or not the leaders endorse such behavior. Professor Jytte Klausen of Brandeis University argues that today, Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, and his government, are playing the same role that his predecessor Hosni Mubarak played in the past: provoking protest to consolidate power. In their public condemnation of the deathly attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood “urge[d] restraint as people peacefully protest and express their anger.” As Professor Klausen puts it, even while condemning the attacks, the Brotherhood called for mass protests at mosques across Egypt on Friday prayers, virtually guaranteeing that the unrest will spread, as a means of gaining and consolidating power.

     I agree with Professor Klausen. President Morsi made a mistake. However, he is still making his first moves as a president and learning how to maneuver between the powder-keg called the Middle East, his fragile relations with the U.S., and his domestic political needs. On the other hand, we should not hand any leader ammunition for making easy political gains. 

  

For further reading:

Jytte Klausen, “Egypt Fans the Flames - Why Morsi Exploited the Muhammad Film -- and Why that Was a Bad Move,” Foreign Affairs, September 13, 2012

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138118/jytte-klausen/egypt-fans-the-flames

“Wouldn’t It Be Great If…”

   My last two posts made a lot of my readers angry, but first and foremost, I want to thank all of the readers who sent their comments to me. Some were supportive, some… less supportive – but this is the beauty of our academic world. Recent years have proven that no one can predict what will happen. No one predicted that Bashar al-Assad would kill hundreds of Syrians every day for more than a year and a half, and that no one would stop him. No one predicted the Arab Spring and its outcome in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. We can express and exchange opinions. You are more than welcome to post your comments here and have a fertile discussion.

   Thinking about Hezbollah as a separate entity and not as a proxy army of Iran, and consequently forming a unique strategy to combat it, seems to be a new concept that is hard to seize, but apparently this concept is not mine alone. It seems that American intelligence agencies decided to change their approach and refer the relationship between Iran and Hezbollah as “strategic relationship” instead of labeling Hezbollah a “proxy army.” They too understand that Hezbollah has grown into a full independent creature with which the world has to cope individually.

    Additionally, the international community’s distrust of and discomfort with President Mohammed Morsi is perfectly understandable. He is a man of Islam, and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious movement that was repressed for many years by Hosni Mubarak. Now, he and that movement are in power thanks to the first democratic elections in Egypt whether we like it or not. To Western eyes it looks that President Morsi poses a threat and it only seems natural that his next ally will be Iran due to their common enemy: Israel. Though I greatly appreciate concerns for Israel’s well being in the case of an Iranian-Egyptians alliance, I believe that the odds of this kind of alliance are pretty slim.

   The world of terrorism and counter-terrorism researchers tends to be pessimistic by nature. We search for the reasons for the destruction of humanity, and unfortunately the majority of these reasons currently invoke the name of Allah. Researchers are no different from the world they live in, and the world in general has lost its faith in strong and clear-intentioned Arab leaders. One should add that this lack of faith is not without reason. And yet President Morsi, though Muslim, draws himself as a different type of leader. Maybe we should give him a chance and leave our fears aside. Maybe something good will happen – to Egypt and the region.

   “Wouldn’t it be great if Hezbollah didn’t have a huge arsenal of weapons;” “wouldn’t it be great if Hezbollah didn’t declare of its intentions to attack Israel,” said a distinguished researcher in a conference this week. He’s a pessimist too. I’m trying not to be.

Egypt and Iran – the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship?

   When Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was invited to the Non-Aligned Summit in Tehran last week, the Iranians were probably dreaming that it would be the a beginning of beautiful friendship. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, no Egyptian leader has visited Iran. They hoped that since President Morsi was the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for the presidency, the relationships between the two states would change for the better. And the Iranians were heartened when President Morsi accepted their invitation.

   However, President Morsi disappointed the Iranians by again proving himself to be a man who politically fearless. Previously President Morsi has shown his assertiveness when he dismissed Defense Minister Mohammed Tantawi and SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) seniors following the terrorist attack in Sinai a few weeks ago. Similarly, he demanded his constitutional rights back with no early warning, when all others thought he gave in to the rule of SCAF. Building on these past actions, his speech in the opening meeting of the Summit was not the warm declaration of solidarity that his hosts had hoped for.

   Iran expected President Morsi to show support with its cause and more hatred against their ‘Zionist’ enemy. Instead, the new Egyptian leader spent the majority of his time speaking passionately about the bloodshed in Syria and the moral obligation of Arab and Muslim nations to stop it as soon as possible. He hardly mentioned Israel.

   After his speech, president Morsi met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Tehran was the first to publish a statement after the meeting, congratulating the “new strategic partnership.” Egyptian officials dismissed the Iranian statement and said that President Morsi discussed only Syrian and Palestinian issues in his meeting with President Ahmadinejad. They asserted that no negotiation regarding a “new strategic partnership” occurred during the meeting.

   Iran was not alone in misinterpreting President Morsi’s intentions. The whole world was watching the new president of Egypt taking his first steps as an independent leader, without SCAF’s direction. President Morsi was given the opportunity to distance himself from SCAF following their unforgivable intelligence failure that led to the terrorist attack in the Sinai desert on August 5, 2012, when 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed while eating their holy Ramadan meal.

   Though taken aback by President Morsi’s actions, Iran needs an ally in these rough times, and Egypt is a good candidate. The Iranian attempt to use the invitation to the Summit as a test for potential allies turned out to be a tremendous failure. The regime cannot acknowledge this failure and tried to paint a rosy picture in their announcement of a strategic partnership. Nonetheless, Iran will not give up on an alliance with Islamic Egypt. The civil war in Syria is just one issue, and Iran’s plans to be the regional leader are ambitious enough that they will not risk it all on Syria. Islamist Morsi, though Sunni and not Shiite, who is the leader of the largest Arab nation in the region, could be a great ally and Iran cannot afford to lose him.

   President Morsi only attended the opening meeting but will be remembered as the man of the Summit. He came to Iran as the leader of Egypt and left as the hope of the region. In central Tehran he called for fierce action against Iran’s closest ally, the Syrian regime, and for support for the Syrian people’s struggle for their freedom.  

   President Morsi doesn’t need Iran as an ally and would do well by his people and country by avoiding a partnership with declining Iran. President Morsi was elected by the people of the revolution, the same people who watch him now trying to convince the Arab nations to stop the bloodbath in Syria. His joining with Iran would send the wrong message to his people.

   President Morsi can flourish and prove himself as a man of deeds for the people of Egypt. Concentrating on Egypt’s economy and internal affairs would be a better use of his time than wading into foreign affairs with Iranian intrigues. With a strong Egypt behind him he might be the leader of the region in the coming years, and determine his own path. Whether it will be good or bad for the Middle East – we have to wait and see.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/30/egyptian-leader-iran-syrian-rebels

http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/morsy-s-iran-visit-sparks-controversy