IP: "we closed our societies, ... to freedom and knowledge"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 23:39:17 -0700
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: Einar Stefferud <stef () nma com>
> Subject: Fwd: "we closed our societies, ... to freedom and knowledge"
> X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by linc.cis.upenn.edu 
> id f9O6df817603
>
> Dave --  My friend, Jim, is quite good at finding really interesting stuff,
> and he says I can forward any of them to you for IP, as I wish.
>
> In return, I send him selected stuff from IP;-)...
>
> This one deserves wider distribution...\Stef
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 21:36:36 -0700
> > Subject: "we closed our societies, ... to freedom and knowledge"
> > From: Jim McHugh <Jim_McHugh () mac com>
> >
> > The New Australian [Melbourne, Victoria] - Monday 15 October 2001
> >
> > Arab intellectual: We, not the US,
> > are the lawful parents of bin Laden
> >
> > TNA News with Commentary
> >
> >      Hashem Hassan, a self identified pan-Arabist, sent a letter
> >       entitled We, not the US, are the lawful parents of bin Laden
> >      to the editor of the London Arabic-language daily Al-Quds
> >      Al-Arabi. He wrote:
> >
> >
> > Most of the articles published in the [Arabic] press about Operation New
> > York--Washington are no more than symptoms of a mental illness from which we
> > have suffered since we were defeated by Israel in 1948. [This illness is
> > manifested] by blaming others for everything connected to our calamities and
> > mistakes, great as they may be. Even the articles of the intellectuals whom
> > I respect, and by whom I am influenced, such as [Al-Quds Al-Arabi editor]
> > Abed Al-Bari 'Atwan, [the Syrian journalist living in London] Subhi Hadidi,
> > [and the Egyptian journalist living in London] Mohammad Abed Al-Hakim Diyab
> > are included in this category.
> >
> > What message are these respected journalists and others like them trying to
> > convey to us by endlessly reiterating the responsibility of America, Israel,
> > and the West for the development of the Osama bin Laden phenomenon, and
> > reminding us of their terrible record in other times and places? Is America
> > also responsible for our failure in dealing with this policy [of denial] for
> > nearly half a century, [during which] we lost Palestine and nearly lost
> > Iraq, with more to come? I am not talking about governments, as their story
> > is known and they too have turned into [a pretext] allowing us to evade
> > responsibility- as if our rulers fell upon us from [another] place and
> > [another] time and are not flesh of our flesh, part of our mentality and our
> > way of lifeŠ
> >
> > I am talking about the elite and the educated leaders from all streams who
> > have emerged in the Arab world. Every one of these streams gained power in
> > an Arab state at a given time, and had great influence on the Arab street.
> > We, the Arabs, are a people of adults who came of age and gained
> > independence from Britain, France, and America decades and decades ago. See
> > what we have done with our free will. We became lost in a labyrinth of
> > corruption, economic backwardness, and civil wars on the day we lost our
> > democracy and the right of the people to remain free; [did their mothers
> > not] bear them free men?
> >
> > Bin Laden and his ilk, with their political blindness and stupid and mad
> > radicalism, are a local Arab product, or at least 70 pre cent [local]... We
> > must stop presenting him as a stepson of American and Western hegemony; he
> > is the lawful son of Arab-Muslim helplessness. He is a completely legal son,
> > to whom we, with our rigidity, gave birth - [we], the supporters of
> > pan-Arabism, you the Marxists, you the Islamists, and you, the other
> > educated individuals. We undermined our homeland and our peoples to the
> > point where they became easy prey to the interests of America, Israel, and
> > others.
> >
> > Presenting the West as Satan is propaganda for the ideas that have
> > transformed our fanatical Islamic youths into human missiles, intentionally
> > murdering civilians off the battlefield, until we have become exactly like
> > the Israelis - victims who turned into hangmen*. What is the difference
> > between what the Americans did to the Al-Amariya shelter [in Iraq] and what
> > Atta and his friends did to the World Trade Center?*
> >
> > Do we want to renounce our lawful son so badly that we try to exonerate...
> > someone who carried out a terrible crime by repeating constantly that there
> > is no proof that he carried it out, thus intensifying the fear and hatred
> > that the West feels towards Islam and the Muslims? Don't we know what these
> > radicals and religious extremists, the wielders of knives, do to women,
> > children, and farmers among their own peoples, in Algeria, in full sight of
> > everyone?
> >
> > Don't we remember what their kind did before that, in Egypt and other
> > places? Even in the Sudan, the land of tolerance, they carried out a mass
> > slaughter of worshipers in a mosque, [an act] unprecedented except for the
> > crime of the Cave of the Patriarchs committed by a Jewish extremist. If
> > among us there is anyone who hates the Arabs, the Muslims, their culture,
> > and their way of life so much that he wants to carry out barbaric mass
> > slaughter, is it any wonder that the Christian hates us and sees us as
> > barbarians like the [Tatar] Hulagu, [who fight] Western civilization.
> >
> > Renouncing these prodigal sons and attempting to lay them at the door of the
> > West is shirking responsibility. It would be better to admit our paternity,
> > and thus [admit] that our primary mistake in the education we gave them was
> > that we closed our societies, our schools, and our media to freedom and
> > knowledge, to the possibility of learning from mistakes. Once, we did this
> > in the name of Islamic religious law; another time, we did it in the name of
> > progressiveness and the struggle against imperialism. Only when [we are
> > capable] of acknowledging this will we be able to deal with the enemy
> > without, however powerful he may be.
> >
> > What is strange is that a few of us - of you - still insist on breeding more
> > bin-Ladens, in the most effective way possible: persevering the policy of
> > hatred of democracy, or avoiding democracy with various and sundry pretexts
> > - first and foremost the war on America.(Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), October
> > 7, 2001)
> >
> >
> > *Editor: It has taken a lot of courage for Mr Hashem Hassan to write this
> > letter and for that he is to be congratulated. However, I still feel
> > impelled to point out that the Israeli's are not hanging anyone, and what
> > the Americans did to the Al-Amariya shelter in Iraq was the kind of tragic
> > accident that happens in war. It has to be stressed the victims were not
> > targeted and that it was Saddam Hussein's aggression that brought about the
> > situation.
> >
> > http://www.newaus.com.au/news290arabletter.html


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