The silence that kills
I gave up reading New York Times foreign affairs columnist Tom Friedman when he fell for the February 2002 "peace plan" pulled from a drawer specially for him by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. What a chump.
It is nevertheless unfortunate that the New York Times now puts Friedman's column behind the TimesSelect wall, because he is still capable of pulling a surprise and producing a good column. Such is the case with last week's "The silence that kills." In the column Friedman decries the silence of the Arab Muslim world in the face of outrage:
Nobody in the Arab world “has the guts to say that what is happening in Iraq is wrong — that killing schoolkids is wrong,” said Mamoun Fandy, director of the Middle East program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “People somehow think that killing Iraqis is good because it will stick it to the Americans, so Arabs are undermining the American project in Iraq by killing themselves.”Friedman concludes the column with a biting poem:The world worries about highly enriched uranium, but “the real danger is highly enriched Islam,” Mr. Fandy added. That is, “highly enriched Sunnism” and “highly enriched Shiism” that eats away at the Muslim state, the way Hezbollah is trying to do in Lebanon or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt or Al Qaeda everywhere.
One result: there’s no legitimate, decent, accepted source of Arab-Muslim authority today, no center of gravity “for people to anchor their souls in,” Mr. Fandy said. In this welter of confusion, the suicide bombers go uncondemned or subtly extolled.
Occasionally an honest voice rises, giving you a glimmer of hope that others will stand up. The MEMRI translation Web site just posted a poem called “When,” from a Saudi author, Wajeha al-Huwaider, that was posted on Arab reform sites like www.aafaq.org.The invaluable MEMRI has translated and posted the poem in its entirety here.When you cannot find a single garden in your city, but there is a mosque on every corner — you know that you are in an Arab country.
When you see people living in the past with all the trappings of modernity — do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country.
When religion has control over science — you can be sure that you are in an Arab country.
When clerics are referred to as “scholars” — don’t be astonished, you are in an Arab country.
When you see the ruler transformed into a demigod who never dies or relinquishes his power, and nobody is permitted to criticize — do not be too upset, you are in an Arab country.
When you find that the large majority of people oppose freedom and find joy in slavery — do not be too distressed, you are in an Arab country.
When you hear the clerics saying that democracy is heresy, but seizing every opportunity provided by democracy to grab high positions — do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country. ...
When you discover that a woman is worth half of what a man is worth, or less — do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country. ...
When land is more important than human beings — you are in an Arab country. ...
When fear constantly lives in the eyes of the people — you can be certain you are in an Arab country.
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