The vilification of Islam, particularly in the West, has developed into something of a pseudo-intellectual industry.
My first piece for Online Opinion has just been posted here.
Friday, 9 May 2008
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Israel at 60
Locked into the mantra of preserving its Jewish character, Israel refuses to comprehend the extent to which it has forsaken the memory of the oppressed for the fruits of the oppressor.
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel. Here is my take on what Israel represents in the 21st century.
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel. Here is my take on what Israel represents in the 21st century.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
But they're Arab!
"She told me, 'I don't want anyone to know you're Arab. I don't want anyone to know I rented the flat out to Arabs.' I told her, 'I'm not going to hide my identity.' She said, 'No, no you don't have to hide.' I said, 'Okay, I want to put my name on the door.' She said, 'No, no, not that.'"
NewMatilda.com has commissioned weekly pieces while I'm in Israel and Palestine over the next two months. Click this link to read my first entry.
NewMatilda.com has commissioned weekly pieces while I'm in Israel and Palestine over the next two months. Click this link to read my first entry.
Friday, 18 April 2008
First, define democracy
Lost in the contrived debate over whether Islam is compatible with democracy is a far more important set of questions: what does democracy mean to different societies - not just Westerners or Muslims, but to the Chinese, Tibetans and so on?
Does it matter that no Western government offered material support to the people of Pakistan as they sought to depose their dictator over the past several years?
Should we recall that it was Western countries that overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran in the 1950s?
The debate also avoids any appraisal of the malaise in Western democracies. One only has to look at the frivolity of the US presidential race, where candidates are criticised for their lack of tenpin bowling skills, to appreciate that something is wrong. In our own country democracy has often been reduced to a shallow exhibition of personalities.
Rather than insist that Muslims prove their worth in Western eyes, it would be more productive if we in the West took a good look at our own democracies.
Mustafa Qadri, Sydney
(Published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 18 April 2008)
Does it matter that no Western government offered material support to the people of Pakistan as they sought to depose their dictator over the past several years?
Should we recall that it was Western countries that overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran in the 1950s?
The debate also avoids any appraisal of the malaise in Western democracies. One only has to look at the frivolity of the US presidential race, where candidates are criticised for their lack of tenpin bowling skills, to appreciate that something is wrong. In our own country democracy has often been reduced to a shallow exhibition of personalities.
Rather than insist that Muslims prove their worth in Western eyes, it would be more productive if we in the West took a good look at our own democracies.
Mustafa Qadri, Sydney
(Published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 18 April 2008)
Monday, 31 March 2008
Will new Pakistan PM challenge US agenda?
That is a question I ask in my most recent piece on Pakistan, published today in NewMatilda.com:
On the afternoon of Tuesday 25 March, Yousaf Raza Gilani was sworn in as Pakistan's 26th Prime Minister.
On the afternoon of Tuesday 25 March, Yousaf Raza Gilani was sworn in as Pakistan's 26th Prime Minister.
The ceremony was noteworthy for a number of reasons. For one, Gilani took his oath from President Musharraf, the same man who had him jailed on corruption charges seven years earlier. Gilani spent the next five years in prison for his troubles. Now Gilani's coalition government is very publicly seeking to remove Musharraf from office.
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Musharraf meltdown
My latest piece, on Musharraf's clamp down on dissent in Pakistan, has been published in this week's NewMatilda.com:
Perhaps inspired by his counterparts in Burma, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has proceeded to clamp down on political dissent like never before. What began as a knee jerk reaction to increasing disenchantment with his regime has spiraled towards ever more draconian measures that have completely erased any remaining claim Musharraf may have to being called a moderate.
The full article is available here.
Perhaps inspired by his counterparts in Burma, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has proceeded to clamp down on political dissent like never before. What began as a knee jerk reaction to increasing disenchantment with his regime has spiraled towards ever more draconian measures that have completely erased any remaining claim Musharraf may have to being called a moderate.
The full article is available here.
Thursday, 2 August 2007
US aid to the Middle East
The relative lack of critical analysis of the United States' military aid package to favoured Middle East nations reveals a great deal about contemporary measures of peace and security (Report, August 1). How, exactly, does a $20bn military aid package foment peace? The US offers yet another golden handshake to regimes, Jewish and Arab alike, with questionable human rights records and we are meant to understand that this is in the interests of peace.
What is clear is that the military aid continues the long tradition of US-funded militarism in the Middle East, a militarism expressly forbidden under international law, including under several UN security council resolutions which have called for the demilitarisation of the Middle East. It is high time we were honest; the US itself is the greatest threat to peace and security in the Middle East.
Mustafa Qadri
London
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