Media, Colonialism and the Fear of the Other (Part 2) – coming soon…

We are currently drafting the second part of the essay titled above. Slowly but surely it is being pieced together! In the meantime if you guys could read or re-read Part 1 below and give me some constructive feedback, that would be great. Don’t worry, the feedback is received in the manner that it is intended! 

‘To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.’ – Aristotle

Poetic Moods

Sometimes it is difficult to reply when someone asks you what your favourite poem is. Every poem is unique, every poem has different objects, voices, messages, allusions, cadences and characters. So today, as I woke up, I felt compelled to share one of my favourite poems. Which poems do you class as one of your favourites? Comments below.

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

 

Ozymandias, by Percy B Shelley

 

Haunting, depressing, aggressive, defiant and empty, all at the same time. These are the five words I would use to describe this poem. After reading it, which five words would you choose to describe this poem? I look forward to your answers…

Introversion

The man sat across me has a vacant stare

Deep and morbid and empty and bare

He shifts and glances but he cannot see

Then through narrow eyes, looks right at me

His bloodied eyes go through my soul

I imagine no heart but an empty hole

He conveys a message of dread and fear

Not encompassing, but he is all I can hear

I hear the terror emanating from his heart

He sees my turmoil like a piercing dart

I hear the pain upon his breath so foul

He sees my panic making me howl

I hear his soft cries muffled and violent

He sees my ache and stays entirely silent

Nothing remains now but that lasting decay

He will mimic all that I do until that final day

‘I know him well and he knows me too’

I look straight at him and he says ‘I’m you’.

 

If Shylock was a Palestinian…

I am a Palestinian.

Hath not a Palestinian eyes?

Hath not a Palestinian hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions;

fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases,

healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by

the same winter and summer as an Israeli is?

If you prick us do we not bleed?

If you tickle us do we not laugh?

If you poison us do we not die?

And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?

If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.

If a Palestinian wrong an Israeli, what is his humility? Revenge.

If an Israeli wrong a Palestinian,

what should his sufferance be by an Israeli example? Why, revenge.

The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

           (Amended Shylock’s speech from A Merchant of Venice by W. Shakespeare)

Media, Colonialism and the Fear of the Other (Part 1)

Imagine a foreigner or a traveller transiting through the UK to continue their onward journey. Imagine this traveller perusing the Duty Free section and generally killing time as he awaits his connecting flight. Imagine this man passing by a newspaper stand, perhaps a WHSmith. Imagine him picking up a newspaper, any newspaper. What would he see? What impressions would he form? What would he think of our country? What would he think of the people? What would he think of the state that we are in?

***

The media in this country is  perhaps the same in many, if not in all countries. And, in this ever smaller world of ours, it is everywhere, in our homes, on our streets, at work, in town and of course online. The media serves many purposes and constructs for us a picture of the world, a framework within which we can then see ourselves. Some purposes may be noble; freedom of speech, freedom of information, conveying of factual content and opinion. Some purposes maybe ignoble. What strikes me is that given all the recent negative media attention on the media itself; phone hacking, tapping up, snooping, Leveson, News of the World, I could go on, there seems to be an almost intentional zeal, a blind hatred that the media has when it comes to reporting on Islam, Muslims or indeed anything east of  Athens. The more one delves into this idea the more obvious it becomes that loaded in every article that is written or printed and in every nuance of an interview, the inherent fear of the Other is a day to day reality. Historically, the Other has manifested itself most overtly when Western ‘world powers’ embarked upon conquest,  invasion and subjugation. The Other and Otherness as a concept can be defined as a preconceived perception of a hegemonic master to maintain an unequal relationship with the subject, whether economical, political or social and thus heighten their own self worth and weaken, subjugate and ultimately govern the subject. The Other is constantly reminded of his insignificance through literature and the media, and consequently becomes subordinate. This is the key aim of this ruthless relationship as now the occupier can exploit the land and plunder its resources. The docility of the occupied Other is further embedded by the justification of the occupier who is able to allude to his alleged strength by using the various tools at his disposal, thus, naturalizing his subjugation. The occupied population start to perceive their pitiful situation as normal and natural and begin to look to the occupiers; for stability, for rationality, for civility, for governance and for social leadership.  This only heightens the disparity of this discriminatory alliance. Now that we understand what the Other and Otherness as a concept is, we are able to understand how this idea has been, and continues to be, used, metamorphosised and implemented by self declared guardians of freedom, democracy and civilization. This has been done historically by occupiers using the aforementioned righteous objectives, but this guise was in fact the basis for infraction, exploitation and oppression, in short, it was colonialism. Colonialism has reared itself right from the outset of human history with the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all building empires and proliferating their supremacy over vast lands, peoples and territories.  And, it was in the 15th Century with the dawn of the Age of Discovery that led to modern colonialism, initialized by the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas. The European powerhouses, in search of magnanimity, establishment and prosperity, competed and sailed across the seas to far flung corners of the earth to undertake this task. The French and Dutch Empires saw an advancement in mainly North Africa and Africa as a whole respectively, where today the hallmarks of the colonial masters is still visible; be it the assimilation of the language, the railways and decrepit infrastructure or the allusions and discussions of the past, which are on the whole, replete with negative connotations of past miseries, shame and helplessness ensconced on the conscience. However, the masters of the colonial era I would argue were none other than the British. This tiny windswept island in the north-western corner of Europe, at its height sat across a vast Empire, ‘upon which the Sun never set’, with the Raj in India as its Jewel in the Crown. It skillfully used all the tricks at its disposal to build a formidable Empire where its colonies were plundered for gold, minerals, resources, slaves, labour, and so on. This in turn fueled the Industrial Revolution and ensured the dominance of the British Pound. The effects of this were not only economical but due to the great skill at which the British played the game with their intentional and also inadvertent treatment of the Other, they ensured that the consequences of the colonized mindset still fervently exist today on the psyche of the minions. to be continued…

Who am I? This is who I am.

For far too long I have let a multitude of ideas swirl inside my head without putting my thoughts on paper. Now I have decided to change this. This is who I am.

I am a man, I am a professional, I am a father, I am a friend,

I am intelligence, I am despair, I am laughter, I am sick,

I am a thinker, I am free, I am a Muslim, I am orthodox,

I am strong, I am reactionary, I am anger, I am empathy,

I am catharsis, I am a beast, I am ego, I am a soul,

I am a book, I am a tear, i am a forest, I am humanity,

I am culpable, I am selfish, I am the answer, I am nothing,

This is who I am.

Media Bias

*Hadar Goldin was 23 years old. His family were told that he was ‘captured’ by Hamas. The IDF later informed them that he had in fact died. Tragedy for his family. Tragedy full stop. He was an IDF soldier. He was killed in action on Friday. He had a twin brother. His name is Tzur. He is also a soldier.His dad is Simcha. His mum is Leah. He was a Lieutenant. He had a fiancee. They were planning their wedding. He was easy going. His body was not fully recovered. Netanyahu said he was ‘a great hero’. Yaalon (Defence Minister) said he was related to Hadar. Thousands attended his ceremonial rites. On sunday. In Kfar Saba. His death is number 66 on the Israeli list.

Dear reader, can you tell me the names of one of the 10 Palestinians killed in the recent UN school bombing? What were their parents names? What career aspirations did they have? Where were they buried?

Shame on us.

*Please note that I take an anti-war stance and I feel a death is a death and a tragedy is a tragedy. The above is to simply demonstrate the inherent bias, hypocrisy and double standards in world media reports and the undeniable truth that they value the lives of the Israeli’s over the Palestinians.

Short (but true) story

 

I have just started a new job and I come into contact with many people, patients as well as fellow professionals and colleagues. Over the last couple of months I have made a lot of friendships with my workmates, as I feel I as well as they, have fairly relaxed, easy-to-get-on-with personalities. During the course of the workday we delve into a variety of topics and chat extensively about topics, ranging from student protests to football, from TV shows to philosophy. However, Islam or Muslims as a topic has never come up, and I happen to be the only Muslim within the company. Now, I hold up my hands first and I feel it is due to my shortcomings that we can chat about everything else in the world but not about Islam. Further, whether this was due to my little knowledge, being the ‘newbie’ or just lack of confidence, I do not know, but it was perhaps a combination of all three.

Last week however, one of my close friend came to use the company services. He is a practicing white Muslim convert but there is nothing outward to suggest this apart from a trace of a beard.
After he left, my colleagues who dealt with him asked me where and how I knew him etc and I told them. Then, one of my colleagues suddenly remarked that she felt how serene and how peaceful he looked (her exact word was ‘spiritual’). Another colleague said the same, they were impressed with his akhlaaq (manners) and the way he conducted himself. I took this as a trigger and carefully instigated a ‘chat’ about spirituality in/and Islam. This seemed to spread like wildfire and we are, alhamdulillah, still discussing, sharing and informing each other. A few colleagues have also requested more info and literature on Islam and Tassawuf (Sufism) and I feel a difference, a change in attitude, a ‘feeling’ among my colleagues that I did not sense before. And it was all down to the 5 minutes or so that they spent dealing with my friend. I feel ashamed (at myself) and amazed (at this little thing) that it took something so insignificant to create such a vibrant wave of openness, calm, humbleness and opportunity.

Tears of Gaza

Blank expressions and dirt smeared faces where

Once the personality of a child resided, lived

Now bloodied, emptied, alone and in despair

Oh children of Gaza you are all insignificant

Cry as you might, the world does not care

Die as you might it means nothing out here

Your innocence snatched and lives shackled

Your futures in doubt, broken and battered

If this is not ethnic cleansing then what is?

As I write this another UN run school has been hit by a deadly Israeli missile killing 10 more Palestinian civilians, many of them children. The ongoing death toll is unimaginable and the ongoing silence is telling. As the bodies of innocent men, women, and especially children litter the dusty enclaves of Khan Younis, Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza, the question arises; what is the real purpose of this terror state inflicting a modern holocaust on innocent civilians?

At first we were told that it was in response to the missing Israeli soldiers, then it shifted to retaliating against Hamas rockets and now it is because the ‘terror tunnels’ need to be demolished. These same tunnels, the very lifeline of a starving, overcrowded, diseased population which Egypt has shamelessly and without a doubt in compliance with Israeli pressure, closed. What options to the Palestinians have?

The chilling destruction in Gaza will continue as long as the Zionist controlled United States turns a blind eye. Their silence too is deafening. What is the point of the UN? It has had its treaties violated time and time again by Israel and yet there is no outcry? Any credibility that is has or ever had, has been diminished and once again Israel is allowed to break International Law mercilessly and without cessation.

Further, where have all the Arab states gone? They always seem to go AWOL when there is any kind of abuse, violence or destruction in the Levant. Maybe this points to the hypocrisy of their complicity and poodle-like relationship that they share with their hegemonic masters? The truth is that this current cycle of ethnic cleansing that the Palestinians are being subjected to will continue unabashed.

The least we can do for them is pray for their ease.