"In the Arab world today, we get a more informed perspective than you do"

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli <mo () mo md>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 19:38:04 -0500
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] Al-Jazeera in English

Dear Dave,
I've been doing a lot of listening, reading and thinking in the last few
weeks, thanks in large part to your list. Because of your comment below,
I'd like to share some of my thoughts with IPers. So, with your
permission, here I go:

In the Arab world today, we get a more informed perspective than you do.

It's a little bit of a disappointment for me to say this - I am
currently a guest in your beautiful country, and I came here because of
the value that you place on free speech and intellectual excellence, all
in the pursuit of better versions of the truth. I'm a scientist,
pursuing such truth is my job. But when it comes to political truth, I
think many Arab citizens today can have a more informed perspective than
Americans.

Don't get me wrong - that's not because my country is more democratic,
has better journalists, or more intelligent analysis. None of these is
true (not yet - but I remain hopeful for Bahrain's new democracy).

But we do see your news as well as our news as well as Israeli news. In
my (so far limited) experience of American life, Americans are extremely
sheltered in the news that they see. When I read Haartez, I learn about
Isrealis suffering from the conflict, I learn what they are worrying
about, I learn how they deal with their own extremists, and I learn
about their many citizens that would like to see peace. And I learn all
this from an Israeli perspective, so I hear a positive human side.

Americans do not seem to be learning such things about Arabs. Reading
British commentary does not count as getting "a different perspective".
Nor is French commentary, even though that small difference is still
enough to enrage many against your ally country. If any Arabic
perspectives ever get to American mainstream news, it is almost always
surrounded by commentary that it is propaganda, or at the very least
highly questionable.

Al-Jazeera has attracted a huge amount of this negative commentary, most
recently for showing the Americans hostages and their mistreatment. As
an Arab, I got to see this, you did not. I think that you should be
angry at Saddam Hussain, not Al-Jazeera. They are showing you the
mistreatment of a human being, so that you know it happened. Al-Jazeera
also shows footage every day showing the mistreatments of Palestinians
in the Occupied Territories. As an Arab, I get to see this, you very
rarely do. And Al-Jazeera shows Israelis being taken to hospital, their
friends, relatives and survivors crying. As an Arab, I get to see this,
you occasionally get to.

There are many people being killed today. Please, at least listen to
them.

Yesterday I listened to NPR / C-SPAN broadcasting a press conference in
Doha, held by two American commanders, and one British commander. It was
embarrassing to listen to the sycophancy and deferent nature of the
western journalists. Arab journalists are no better with our Arab
leaders, but we have dictators, and America is supposed to be liberating
us and teaching us democracy. This was not a good lesson.

A journalist from the Sun asked "Could you explain to us the feelings of
disgust that you felt as you saw your comrade paraded on television by
the Iraqi regime, and shown to the world on Al-Jazeera." (I'm only
quoting from memory here, but I'm pretty sure that I'm pretty close to
what was said.) He then asked the general whether he would declare
Al-Jazeera a "hostile station".

Since when has a democracy's freedom been protected by members of the
press asking softball questions of their leaders, and demanding that
other journalists be declared hostile?

Yesterday, only Al-Jazeera and Arabic members of the press were asking
difficult questions. Of course, you might say, these journalists are
against America's agenda. But these were fair questions, and your own
press was not asking them. Besides, I always pay particular attention to
the channel's coverage of Bahraini affairs - the channel is owned by
Qatar, and Qatar's ruling family does not like the Bahraini ruling
family. That means I get extremely useful coverage of my country's state
of affairs by following Al-Jazeera.

I do not think it is in Americans' interests to ignore such a valuable
resource given your mainstream media's insistence on bowing to your own
government.

Once again, I fear I've sent you a long message for the IP List. My
apologies for the length, but I hope that you can still share it. And I
pray that God have mercy on all those who have died in Middle East. May
it all end soon.

mohammad

Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli
e mo () mo md
w www.mo.md

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On Behalf
Of Dave Farber
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 4:42 PM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Al-Jazeera in English

Quite a different perspective.


------ Forwarded Message
From: Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli <mo () mo md>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 15:25:01 -0500
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Al-Jazeera in English

Dear Dave,
I thought fellow IPers might like to know that Al-Jazeera's website is
now available in English. It's at:

http://english.aljazeera.net/

The site is in early stages, but it still has plenty of relevant content
and a different perspective.

Take care,
mohammad

Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli
e mo () mo md
w www.mo.md


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