THE COMPLETE ARTICLE
THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Silence That Kills: THOMAS FRIEDMAN
Replace the word "Arab" with "Jew" and you'll see what I mean.
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Commentary on today's Friedman article
Friedman Comes Alive
All along, we thought that Tom Friedman was an overentitled globalist Babbitt whose endlessly-shifting rationales for supporting wars in the Middle East reflected the self-dealing priorities of the elite pundit class.
Well, that’s where thinking will get you. Today we find out that Tom Friedman just has a bit of a problem with Arabs:
The Silence That Kills
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN[…]
Occasionally an honest voice rises, giving you a glimmer of hope that others will stand up. The MEMRI translation Web site (memri.org) just posted a poem called “When,” from a Saudi author, Wajeha al-Huwaider, that was posted on Arab reform sites like www.aafaq.org.
See The Guardian* for an article on MEMRI as an ‘impartial translation service.’ (The National Review, on the other hand, praises it unreservedly.) The column continues:
When you cannot find a single garden in your city, but there is a mosque on every corner — you know that you are in an Arab country.
When you see people living in the past with all the trappings of modernity — do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country.
When religion has control over science — you can be sure that you are in an Arab country.
When clerics are referred to as “scholars” — don’t be astonished, you are in an Arab country.
When you see the ruler transformed into a demigod who never dies or relinquishes his power, and nobody is permitted to criticize — do not be too upset, you are in an Arab country.
When you find that the large majority of people oppose freedom and find joy in slavery — do not be too distressed, you are in an Arab country.
When you hear the clerics saying that democracy is heresy, but seizing every opportunity provided by democracy to grab high positions — do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country.
When you discover that a woman is worth half of what a man is worth, or less — do not be surprised, you are in an Arab country.
When land is more important than human beings — you are in an Arab country. …
When fear constantly lives in the eyes of the people — you can be certain you are in an Arab country.
2 comments:
Nelson Mandela's First Memo to Thomas Friedman
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Today the world, black and white, recognize that apartheid has no future. In South Africa it has been ended by our own decisive mass action in order to build peace and security. That mass campaign of defiance and other actions could only culminate in the establishment of democracy.
Perhaps it is strange for you to observe the situation in Palestine or more specifically, the structure of political and cultural relationships between Palestinians and Israelis, as an apartheid system. This is because you incorrectly think that the problem of Palestine began in 1967. This was demonstrated in your recent column "Bush's First Memo" in the New York Times on March 27, 2001.
You seem to be surprised to hear that there are still problems of 1948 to be solved, the most important component of which is the right to return of Palestinian refugees.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not just an issue of military occupation and Israel is not a country that was established "normally" and happened to occupy another country in 1967. Palestinians are not struggling for a "state" but for freedom, liberation and equality, just like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa.
[..]
http://www.mediamonitors.net/arjan28.html
Good stuff. Thanks.
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