where are the numbers of insurgents to prove that?
so here is a story: when george w started the war in iraq, the african literature association was holding its annual conference in alexandria, egypt. as we traveled by train from cairo to alexandria, the bombs began, and we were all on tenderhooks.
edward said, who was dying, but who had given a rousing speech at american university, cancelled his talk at ala. he was extenuated after his hourlong brilliant call for intellectual challenges, for something more compelling that "clash of civilizations."
so he was replaced at the ala by a local egyptian professor, an intellectual, an elegantly dressed figure, who spoke of modernism and its reach in egypt. he ended with a plea: please, america, do not launch this war in iraq. we in egypt, he said, have been struggling against the reduction of thought that marked religious fundamentalism. against the risks, we have spoken out; we live a heritage of cuture, in egypt, that is and has always been cosmopolitan, mediterranean, alongside and with muslim and religious faith. we are not exclusionists, violent monothinkers, but polyglots who celebrate our differences, and welcome all the threads of culture that have been woven into the fabric of our cities.
beautiful, vibrant, multicultural cities
we have to be in solidarity with this man, join in company with him.
it is crucial that we not conflate such figures, and the world of islam he envisions, with those whose minds are constrained by fanatical beliefs and who are rigid in rejecting any other ways than their own.
no one who has traveled in any muslim land would believe that the violent militants represent all the people, all the beliefs, all the cultural aspirations. but the u.s. leadership has nonetheless declared war on "terrorism" in such a way as to conflate them all.
i challenge anyone to find a teaparty disciple whose monological world is any different from that of these, the extreme islamists, and yet no one wants to imagine that all americans are tea party nutcases. why do the same to muslims?
ken
On 9/13/12 2:18 AM, Ayo Obe wrote:
At least, the by coming out to demonstrate against the attack on the US Ambassador, Libyans are acknowledging the so-called 'religious' extremists for who they are, and have rejected them. The people of Mali are also denouncing religious extremists, and revolted by their activities and rejecting their behaviour as out of keeping with their nature and their culture.
AyoI invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama----Is there not a pattern in the violent activities of Islamic extremists? Is calling them nutcases not self deceit and denial of reality? The extremists are focused well-motivated ideologues implementing a well reasoned and crafted plan to dominate their countries and more. Their objective is to impose their interpretation of Islam and politics on others regardless of agreement and consent. Is
it not the case that one person's nut case may be another's smart Alec?
The sooner Islamic and other religious extremists are acknowledged for who they are, the sooner the scourge that they visit on innocent victims of their crimes may be reduced or even eliminated.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kenneth harrow [harrow@msu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 9:27 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: [Mwananchi] Fate and the American ambassador to Libya [EXTREMIST ISLAMIC MILITIAS STRIKE AGAIN]
i thought the ambassador and 3 others were killed by religious extremists, which is polite talk for nutcases. that hardly describes the brave young men who went up against a repressive dictatorship and risked their lives for some kind of freedom.
hard to talk about these things w/o falling into highblown rhetoric, but the posting below strikes me as despicable.
or maybe the author really knows the inside scoop, and we are all deceived. (negotiation, ghaddafi? give me a break)
ken
On 9/12/12 9:51 AM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jupiter Punungwe
Date: Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 1:18 PM
Subject: [Mwananchi] Fate and the American ambassador to Libya
To: zimbabwe2@yahoogroups.com, zimsite@yahoogroups.com, padare@yahoogroups.com, munhumutapa@googlegroups.com, mwananchi@yahoogroups.com
Fate can sometimes create circumstances of totally cruel irony. The late US ambassador to Libya sneaked in on a cargo ship in support of the very same militias at whose hands he has now died. I wouldn't be surprised at all of some of the weapons airdropped to the militias by Western governments were used in the attack that killed him.
When some of us were warning against choosing violence over negotiation in Libya, we were derisively dismissed as despicable Gadhaffi lovers. Yet our concerns were driven by the simple common sense that if you give a young men weapons and set them loose, you cannot switch them off like a light bulb once your purposes have been achieved.
This exactly what is happening in Libya. The militias are refusing to be switched off. With the flush feeling that comes from killing a high profile individual like an American ambassador, the militias are going to get more brazen.
Oh! People of Libya! When is this going to end for you.
Jupiter
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