War on terror: Between Islam and political
identity
Imam Cahyono ; A
Muhammadiyah Activist and A Researcher
at
the Maarif Institute for Culture and Humanity, Jakarta
|
JAKARTA
POST, 13 September 2012
Since the 9/11
attacks in the US 11 years ago, many will blame terror attacks on Islam, saying
that acts of terror could have been prevented if Islam had not spread the
theology of terror based on anger and hate. Many analysts use theology to
explain the act of terrorism.
Samuel Huntington says in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order, that Islam is a civilization that only has a single identity. But Amartya Sen (Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny, 2006), disagrees and challenges Huntington’s argument. According to Sen, identity is multi-faceted and there is no reason to allow one dimension of an identity to dominate others. He also suggests that religion does not need to be an exclusive basis for identity, although he does say that a bipolar conflict could be attributed to those who would stimulate violence.
But it comes as no surprise that terror attacks have drawn public attention to Islam. By focusing on Islam, the media has distracted the public from the real geopolitical struggle. The Western media have dismissed any link between the horrific legacies of the United States foreign policy that have affected millions of people across the planet and recent terror attacks, diverting attention from the real issues.
When questioned by then National Police chief Gen. Da’i Bachtiar, Amrozi, one of the first Bali bombers in custody, said: “Mr. Da’i, as long as there is injustice out there, a thousand of Amrozi’s will rise and you will not be able to eliminate them.” Amrozi stated that there was injustice not only in Indonesia but also in Israel and in the US policy toward Iraq and Palestine. The call for a “holy war” on the US and its allies is aimed to avenge Muslim deaths in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
The world’s most pressing problems are not a result of either excessive or insufficient Islamic tolerance, nor are they a result of the caricatured portrait of Islam in the West and beyond — a portrait that often characterizes Islam and all its followers as brutal, fundamentalist and terrorists. The real problem is the worldwide issue of oppression and injustice. People in developing countries are faced with daily horror that should never be tolerated with or without religious justification. They are defenseless, impoverished and live in hunger, and in so many ways this is a direct result of the West’s poor development efforts.
As far as the limits on tolerance is concerned, the frustration of Muslims around the world is not a consequence of faulty interpretations of Islam, but a result of the inability to tolerate continued Western double standards and the treatment of Muslims as second-class citizens.
Facts reveal that many global crises are a result of efforts by the US and its allies to achieve economic and cultural hegemony by dominating or destroying all opposition. Oppression forever begets intolerance. Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed noted that never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence? Violence starts from those who oppress, exploit and fail to recognize others as people.
The divide between rich and poor, unparalleled in world history, is no longer driven by purely economic interests. Instead it seems to be more a fight to control and oppress in order to sustain global political domination and economic pillage.
The events of 9/11 and ensuing terror attacks have warned us of the devastating consequences of prolonged oppression and subjugation, while reminding us of the power of the human instinct for liberation. Islamic resistance is a call for self-defense against an endless reign and violence. Islam simply happens to be the religion of the oppressed and those fighting for their rights in the absence of political options. The struggle between justice and tyranny cannot and should not be reduced to Islam vs. the West.
The flow of recruits to such groups as al-Qaeda will not be stopped by spreading a different view of Islam through Koranic interpretation nor by the so-called war on terror. It is urgent that the international community address issues that require political solutions. Israel occupation of Palestinian land, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring are the issues that have lead young middle-class, university-educated professionals in the direction of terror.
Neofundamentalism and radical violence is linked to westernization rather than the Koran (Roy, 2004). The fact that Osama bin Laden and his followers turned against the West has little to do with religion, but a great deal to do with history and politics. Since the causes are political, not religious, the solution has to be political.
Injunctions to violence against non-believers stem from misinterpretation of the Koran, and even a holy war has no basis in Koranic text, but instead grew out of social and political conflict. Blaming Muslims for misinterpretation and urging them to be more tolerant is not the solution.
Samuel Huntington says in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order, that Islam is a civilization that only has a single identity. But Amartya Sen (Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny, 2006), disagrees and challenges Huntington’s argument. According to Sen, identity is multi-faceted and there is no reason to allow one dimension of an identity to dominate others. He also suggests that religion does not need to be an exclusive basis for identity, although he does say that a bipolar conflict could be attributed to those who would stimulate violence.
But it comes as no surprise that terror attacks have drawn public attention to Islam. By focusing on Islam, the media has distracted the public from the real geopolitical struggle. The Western media have dismissed any link between the horrific legacies of the United States foreign policy that have affected millions of people across the planet and recent terror attacks, diverting attention from the real issues.
When questioned by then National Police chief Gen. Da’i Bachtiar, Amrozi, one of the first Bali bombers in custody, said: “Mr. Da’i, as long as there is injustice out there, a thousand of Amrozi’s will rise and you will not be able to eliminate them.” Amrozi stated that there was injustice not only in Indonesia but also in Israel and in the US policy toward Iraq and Palestine. The call for a “holy war” on the US and its allies is aimed to avenge Muslim deaths in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
The world’s most pressing problems are not a result of either excessive or insufficient Islamic tolerance, nor are they a result of the caricatured portrait of Islam in the West and beyond — a portrait that often characterizes Islam and all its followers as brutal, fundamentalist and terrorists. The real problem is the worldwide issue of oppression and injustice. People in developing countries are faced with daily horror that should never be tolerated with or without religious justification. They are defenseless, impoverished and live in hunger, and in so many ways this is a direct result of the West’s poor development efforts.
As far as the limits on tolerance is concerned, the frustration of Muslims around the world is not a consequence of faulty interpretations of Islam, but a result of the inability to tolerate continued Western double standards and the treatment of Muslims as second-class citizens.
Facts reveal that many global crises are a result of efforts by the US and its allies to achieve economic and cultural hegemony by dominating or destroying all opposition. Oppression forever begets intolerance. Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed noted that never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence? Violence starts from those who oppress, exploit and fail to recognize others as people.
The divide between rich and poor, unparalleled in world history, is no longer driven by purely economic interests. Instead it seems to be more a fight to control and oppress in order to sustain global political domination and economic pillage.
The events of 9/11 and ensuing terror attacks have warned us of the devastating consequences of prolonged oppression and subjugation, while reminding us of the power of the human instinct for liberation. Islamic resistance is a call for self-defense against an endless reign and violence. Islam simply happens to be the religion of the oppressed and those fighting for their rights in the absence of political options. The struggle between justice and tyranny cannot and should not be reduced to Islam vs. the West.
The flow of recruits to such groups as al-Qaeda will not be stopped by spreading a different view of Islam through Koranic interpretation nor by the so-called war on terror. It is urgent that the international community address issues that require political solutions. Israel occupation of Palestinian land, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring are the issues that have lead young middle-class, university-educated professionals in the direction of terror.
Neofundamentalism and radical violence is linked to westernization rather than the Koran (Roy, 2004). The fact that Osama bin Laden and his followers turned against the West has little to do with religion, but a great deal to do with history and politics. Since the causes are political, not religious, the solution has to be political.
Injunctions to violence against non-believers stem from misinterpretation of the Koran, and even a holy war has no basis in Koranic text, but instead grew out of social and political conflict. Blaming Muslims for misinterpretation and urging them to be more tolerant is not the solution.
Religious
dialogues in the Muslim world cannot take place in isolated debates about the
distribution of political power and economic resources, fairness and justice
global policy. ●
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