Mideast News & Politics

US Congressman Proposes “Limited Voting Power”

Does the phrase used in the title of this post suggest images of dictatorships restricting the rights of its people? Perhaps instead the decline of representative democracy in the face of big business and multinational corporations?

On the contrary, it is the positive suggestion issued by a US congressman, though fortunately, concerning no one in his own constituency.

Joe Walsh is a Republican congressman from the 8th district of Illinois. On May 3 he penned an op-ed for the Washington Times, reprinted in the Jerusalem Post, advocating a one-state solution in Israel.

Why Muslims Should Support Obama's Call for Marriage Equality

President Obama's support for same-sex marriage was inevitable. During its three years in power, the Obama administration has ordered a "cease to defend" the Defense of Marriage Act, while totally dismantling Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Will Obama’s statement concluding his personal acceptance and affirmation of the legality of same sex marriages make a difference in LGBT lives on the ground?

No. After all, laws are not written by the Executive Branch. What Obama has done is come out as a supporter of compassion and justice for same sex couples.

Ironically, it took a Christian man like Obama, to remind us Muslims of compassion and justice for all.

The Drone War in Pakistan Part III: Update on Shahzad Akbar

In May of last year, Shahzad Akbar, a lawyer representing Pakistani victims of US drone attacks applied for a US visa to speak about drones at a conference at Columbia University. He was denied the visa and told only that there was a “problem” with his application.

This year again, the State Department had rejected Akbar’s request to enter the country to speak at an International Drone Conference in Washington DC on April 28, but after mounting pressure from Human Rights advocacy groups, Akbar was finally granted a visa.

“I am glad that better sense prevailed and the State Department is finally letting me into the country after 14 months of delay and tireless efforts by the Summit organizers,” Akbar said.

Jostling for Position before Egyptian Presidential Elections

The condition of Egypt is quietly very concerning these days. I say quietly for two reasons. First, in terms of the Western audience, most is slipping under the radar. Second, in terms of Egypt, the nation waits for presidential elections, and the areas of concern are easily ignored if no attention is paid to news headlines and their fascination with politics.

Yet it is in the realm of politics that power is often determined. Often, I say, because once again this struggle has been taken into the street.

Reminiscent of clashes prior to the legislative elections, eleven people at least were killed recently while demonstrating against the military council. Still, the odd quiet continues as these protests are near the Ministry of Defense in Abbasiyya, not in the iconic Tahrir Square.

Existential Threats And the Case of Trayvon Martin

The first round of the Trayvon Martin saga is finally over. George Zimmerman is behind bars 45 days after the shooting of an unarmed African American teenager — an act that snowballed into a national soul searching crisis that evoked strong and poignant questions about race and racism in America.

Activists, celebrities and ordinary citizens stepped up to express their outrage and demand justice. Tweets from Justin Bieber and Spike Lee along with thousands of angry phone calls flooded the airwaves; and civil rights politicians like Reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson came out to denounce the act as an egregious example of racist hate crime. The Rainbow Push coalition held hands, singing “We Shall Overcome” and the “Million Hoodie March” rallied in cities across America. In a short period of time, over 2 million signatures petitioned for the arrest of George Zimmerman who continued to invoke self-defense under the “Stand-Your-Ground” law, which expands the rights of citizens to use deadly force in any public space if they feel threatened.

The Drone War in Pakistan, Part II

In September of 2009 a 15-year-old named Sadaullah was having an Iftar meal with his family in north-western Pakistan when missiles hit his grandfather’s house, killing four of his relatives and leaving him unconscious.

“When he awoke in a Peshawar hospital, he found that both his legs had been amputated and shrapnel had penetrated his eye, rendering it useless,” Mirza Shaahzad Akbar, a Pakistani lawyer who is suing the CIA for the drone strikes, wrote in the Guardian.

Hundreds of such civilians have been victims of the United States “silent” drone war in Pakistan but few are ever discussed in the United States.

Akbar is representing victims like Sadaullah but the United States has refused to grant him a VISA to speak at the International Drone Conference in Washington DC at the end of the month.

The Drone War in Pakistan

United States officials recently acknowledged a secret drone war in Northern Pakistan. As a part of the ongoing war against terrorism, the United States has been remotely targeting and bombing “militants” using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones.

The drones, made by a San Diego Defense Contractor, are viewed by the CIA as a “brilliant intelligence tool” with “pinpoint precision.” They are capable of flying for up to 40 hours without having to refuel and are, because they are unmanned, relatively cheap to operate.

As the drones fly over the tribal areas of Pakistan, they record footage of potential militants and pick up signals from microchips dropped near targets by a “network of spies” within Pakistan. The footage is viewed by analysts in Nevada who decide their next targets.

Egypt’s Porn Ban: A Starting Point For More Censorship

With the economy in shambles due to the aftermath of the January 25th Revolution, putting Egypt on a course of change after the ouster of its President Hosni Mubarak, the newly elected parliament would rather focus on the subject of pornography.

The parliament, the first freely elected of its kind in the history of Egypt, has Islamists ranting about the eradication of pornography on the Internet; a gateway to sin as many have informally called it. Dr. Younis Makhion, a member of parliament representing the Salafi al-Nour Party, led the topic of debate, calling it the cause of Egyptian society's problems such as divorce and rape. Makhion views the websites as “poisons in spreading immorality” that “destroy all religious beliefs, ethics and moral values.” His push for the porn ban is backed by the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology, who says it will be creating a committee to find means to block such websites. 

Cultural Imperialism: Egypt, America, and Sudan

Egyptian Salafi parliamentarian Mohamed al-Kurdi created a minor stir last month while testifying before the parliamentary education committee. He declared his opposition to a USAID program to encourage English language teaching in government schools, beginning in grade two as opposed to grade four.

Kurdi found this to be an example of “cultural imperialism” and urged the government to cancel the grant.

The Salafi Nour Party, for its part, distanced itself from Kurdi, consenting to their member’s referral to a disciplinary hearing. Amina Nossair, professor at the Azhar University, criticized:

“We definitely should not neglect our mother tongue but I would remind Mr. Kurdi that learning foreign languages was advised by Prophet Mohamed,” she said.

Nevertheless, through conversations with many Muslims in the Middle East, it seems that there is a palpable discomfort with the dominance of Western culture (Many of these conversations were conducted in English, so few would argue the language itself should be stricken from education).

Some, though, have expressed that Arabic is the language of God. Exasperation at Western culture is often awkwardly articulated as a desire for the reassertion of Islamic cultural dominance. In these cases the issue is seen as one of struggle, rather than respect for the uniqueness of each cultural expression.

But really, why argue in any direction? After all, who can resist the flow of culture? It is above us all.

Don’t Wake Iran Up; It’s the Persian Winter

While eyes are on the Iranian people to storm up in an uprising similar to the Arab Spring, Iran is hibernating in a Persian winter. Yes, it’s true, the sleepy nation talks in its sleep (that is the ongoing protests of the highly educated young Iranians on Facebook, Twitter and blogs) but, there isn’t going to be a Persian Spring any time soon.

Iranians need a leader to walk them through a major change. The leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, which led to the 1979 revolution, has left that mark imprinted on the Iranian psyche. For example, one of the reasons for the failure of the green movement in 2009 was the lack of leadership. Even though the first few weeks of the uprising seemed impressively organized and even hopeful, when the presidential candidates Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mahdi Karoubi were put under house arrest, and communication became impossible, the protests began to deteriorate and eventually died down.