Here's a short excerpt from my interview with Palestinian-American policy analyst Omar Baddar on how Palestinians understand their place in the world amidst a genocide of their people in Gaza.
There are so many factors to this issue it’s near impossible to cover them all but one thing I think worth mentioning would be the way the US looks at muslim people. I’m near the same age as Luke, I’m 44, and I remember the huge backlash against muslim people after 9/11. I, like many, was glued to the news, and they continually showed people in Gaza doing the ululation and celebrating after news of the attack spread around the world. I don’t think that was an accident. We’ve pretty much always had an unfavorable view of muslim people and showing those clips after 9/11 didn’t help. I will say, however, there has been a huge movement for Palestine, once again the kids are leading the way, protest and awareness spreading on social media. I think the awareness on this issue is far and away better than it would have been twenty years ago, even five years ago, and that gives me a little bit of hope.
He offers an historical analysis of the West's conception of 'The East' or 'The Orient' and uses this to expertly explain why, both cultures and individuals from this region, are apparently so easy to remove from Western public discourse.
He wrote it before 9/11, but he perfectly predicted what followed. He also predicted what is happening now.
It's a masterful work, a legend in the world of sociology and a book I cannot recommend enough to anyone interested in the topic.
That sounds amazing, thank you! Honestly, it's just something that I saw through observation. Having family that were practicing Muslims and seeing how they were treated helped for me to find the sympathy for others and their experience.
I kinda disagree with Omar's take here. The reality is that dehumanization of Muslims and Arabs has been entrenched in Western European christendom (and by extension America) since the Crusades. Islam (and Arabs) has been presented as the arch enemy of Christianity for at least a thousand years now. The Prophet Muhammad (saws) was famously depicted on the lowest rung of hell in Dante's Inferno. The antipathy to Islam and Arabs is deeply baked into Western culture, that has profound effects on how people react to world events. Of course there have been periods where the enmity was somewhat dormant, but the antipathy has always existed. Whenever open conflict arises between a "western" force and a "muslim" force, that's when the dehumanization becomes most apparent. There is a good book called "Reel bad Arabs" about how Arab and Muslim society has been villainized by Hollywood for 100 years since the silent movie era, before Israel even existed!! Western society simply do not value Muslim and Arab life, they view them as backward savages, that's why they don't really care. It's not about the GOP, or politics, it's a societal malady, politics plays a part, but most of it is social conditioning for thousands of years.
While I agree that if, in this 5 minute clip, Omar is claiming to present a total perspective on the enablement of this genocide, then his analysis is lacking.
But I'm not sure he's doing that. I think he is diagnosing the specifically political strand of the issue.
America was not always the friend to Israel it is now. It was once in clear opposition to the mistreatment of Palestinians. Political choices were made in order to reverse that opposition.
Analysing that progression doesn't infer that the West's deeply racist conception of the Islamic world is irrelevant. To the contrary, politics is supposed to stand in the way of our animal instincts, political institutions are supposed to promote the values of civilisation.
So this is, amongst others, is a political failure. To think otherwise is to submit to our racist history and animal nature.
Excellent stuff! Looking forward to the full interview!
Thank you, Karim!
There are so many factors to this issue it’s near impossible to cover them all but one thing I think worth mentioning would be the way the US looks at muslim people. I’m near the same age as Luke, I’m 44, and I remember the huge backlash against muslim people after 9/11. I, like many, was glued to the news, and they continually showed people in Gaza doing the ululation and celebrating after news of the attack spread around the world. I don’t think that was an accident. We’ve pretty much always had an unfavorable view of muslim people and showing those clips after 9/11 didn’t help. I will say, however, there has been a huge movement for Palestine, once again the kids are leading the way, protest and awareness spreading on social media. I think the awareness on this issue is far and away better than it would have been twenty years ago, even five years ago, and that gives me a little bit of hope.
Have you read Orientalism by Edward Said?
He offers an historical analysis of the West's conception of 'The East' or 'The Orient' and uses this to expertly explain why, both cultures and individuals from this region, are apparently so easy to remove from Western public discourse.
He wrote it before 9/11, but he perfectly predicted what followed. He also predicted what is happening now.
It's a masterful work, a legend in the world of sociology and a book I cannot recommend enough to anyone interested in the topic.
That sounds amazing, thank you! Honestly, it's just something that I saw through observation. Having family that were practicing Muslims and seeing how they were treated helped for me to find the sympathy for others and their experience.
Your perspective is a vitally important one in coming to the aid of Palestinians.
Don't give up! Challenge the bullshit! And I'll try to do the same.
It feels in vein, but that's their strategy, we can't submit to it.
Thank you, Luke. Gutsy and important reporting.
Seems so strange to me that asking a people under siege how they see the world is considered bold, but here we are. Thank you for your support.
Genocide has no defense. Tragic.
Fantastic, can’t wait for the full thing
I love that you did this! Great job, LT! This perspective is much appreciated.
I kinda disagree with Omar's take here. The reality is that dehumanization of Muslims and Arabs has been entrenched in Western European christendom (and by extension America) since the Crusades. Islam (and Arabs) has been presented as the arch enemy of Christianity for at least a thousand years now. The Prophet Muhammad (saws) was famously depicted on the lowest rung of hell in Dante's Inferno. The antipathy to Islam and Arabs is deeply baked into Western culture, that has profound effects on how people react to world events. Of course there have been periods where the enmity was somewhat dormant, but the antipathy has always existed. Whenever open conflict arises between a "western" force and a "muslim" force, that's when the dehumanization becomes most apparent. There is a good book called "Reel bad Arabs" about how Arab and Muslim society has been villainized by Hollywood for 100 years since the silent movie era, before Israel even existed!! Western society simply do not value Muslim and Arab life, they view them as backward savages, that's why they don't really care. It's not about the GOP, or politics, it's a societal malady, politics plays a part, but most of it is social conditioning for thousands of years.
While I agree that if, in this 5 minute clip, Omar is claiming to present a total perspective on the enablement of this genocide, then his analysis is lacking.
But I'm not sure he's doing that. I think he is diagnosing the specifically political strand of the issue.
America was not always the friend to Israel it is now. It was once in clear opposition to the mistreatment of Palestinians. Political choices were made in order to reverse that opposition.
Analysing that progression doesn't infer that the West's deeply racist conception of the Islamic world is irrelevant. To the contrary, politics is supposed to stand in the way of our animal instincts, political institutions are supposed to promote the values of civilisation.
So this is, amongst others, is a political failure. To think otherwise is to submit to our racist history and animal nature.