Keghart
An amateurish US film mocking the Prophet Muhammad and denigrating Islam unleashed massive and violent anti-American protests throughout the world last week. The angry demonstrations turned deadly when unknown assailants attacked the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three staff members. Security forces in several countries killed dozens of protesters as they burned American flags and scaled the walls of US Embassies.
An amateurish US film mocking the Prophet Muhammad and denigrating Islam unleashed massive and violent anti-American protests throughout the world last week. The angry demonstrations turned deadly when unknown assailants attacked the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three staff members. Security forces in several countries killed dozens of protesters as they burned American flags and scaled the walls of US Embassies.
Pouring more oil on the fire, initial reports falsely claimed that the movie was produced and financed by Israelis. In fact, it was produced in Southern California by a Christian Egyptian convict whose film was severely denounced by Bishop Serapion of the Coptic Church in Los Angeles.
The real issue, however, goes beyond the vile movie and its reckless producer. The film simply served as a pretext for protesters to express their pent up anti-American anger after decades of flawed and counter-productive US foreign policies — none of which justifies the killing of American diplomats and attacks on US Embassies.
The list of serious missteps by successive US administrations is lengthy enough to fill many volumes. Whether it is called Arab Spring or Winter of Discontent, the down-trodden masses of third world countries have finally erupted in anti-American rage, having long-endured oppressive tyrants backed by Washington. To achieve short-term and shortsighted objectives, American policymakers often damage US interests in the long run.
Another regrettable US mistake is pouring billions of dollars into the pockets of corrupt foreign leaders, to prop up puppet regimes and buy their friendship. Unfortunately, very little of this US largesse has trickled down to the poor and needy. Ultimately, the masses overthrow the autocrats and take their anger on the nearest US target — the American Embassy and the flag which symbolizes to them oppression and misery.
Lengthy congressional hearings are then held in Washington, as legislators wonder why so many foreign leaders have become anti-American and what their corrupt predecessors have done with billions of dollars in US foreign aid? Instead of taking steps to ensure that the assistance provided by the United States reaches the neediest segments of society, Congress often threatens to cut off all aid to teach the new leaders a lesson, thereby antagonizing them even more!
Most problematic is the risky role the United States plays in regional conflicts. Due to misperceived interests, American officials too often throw their weight around, rushing headlong into unnecessary wars or taking one-sided positions, whereas a more balanced approach would be more productive in peacefully mediating these conflicts.
Caution is particularly necessary during an election year, when US presidential candidates make overly partisan statements to pander to the interests of diverse constituencies. A careless remark can have far-reaching consequences, tarnishing America’s image and alienating millions of people around the world.
Most Arabs and Muslims are convinced that America has not been an honest broker in the Arab-Israeli conflict. As a result, they harbor great resentment and deep-seated anger toward the United States. Any provocation, such as burning the Koran or making anti-Muslim movies, triggers a violent reaction. While US laws protect even the vilest forms of speech, people must realize that words have consequences; and just because it is legal to say something, it may not be prudent to do so!
However, in all fairness, not every hostile act in the world should be blamed on US foreign policies. There are extremists in every race, religion, and nation motivated by hostile ideologies with the sole aim of causing indiscriminate destruction. Regrettably, Western governments and societies often mistakenly blame everyone who shares the racial and religious affiliation of few extremists, thereby antagonizing millions of peaceful citizens.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of learned scholars in academia and experts in governmental agencies who can advise and educate US leaders, many lacking basic knowledge of world affairs. A case in point is a conversation Pres. George W. Bush had with three Iraqi-Americans. When the President was informed about the existence of different Islamic sects in Iraq, he reportedly told his guests that he did not know there were Sunnis and Shias in that country. “I thought the Iraqis were Muslims,” he was quoted as saying!
While bad movies can trigger short-term outbreaks of violence, bad foreign policies can cause long-term damage to US national interests.
Keghart
Keghart
3 comments
” America just cannot be the loved one”
Below is a quotation from this week’s column by Michael Young to lend support to what I believe that Harut Sassounian ascribing the prevailing anti-American feelings in the Islamic world to bad or misguided American policies and imply that there was or is an alternative American policy that would have won the hearts and minds of the Islamic world, is a simplistic generalization.
Michael Young is a columnist for the Daily Star in Lebanon He is born of a Lebanese mother who took him back to Lebanon at the age of seven after the death of his American father. I invite the readers to read his latest column titled "America just cannot be loved".
I quote the following from that column:
"We must seriously consider that the Arab world has so internalized its disapproval of the United States over time, integrating it perfectly into a prevailing sense of Arab misfortune and frustration, that anti-Americanism has become a constant of Arab political discourse, a crutch of sorts. That is not to say that America is blameless or the Arabs always wrong; it’s to say that the positivist belief among Americans that they can be loved simply by altering their actions and manners is naively overstated."
Anti-American Protests
Harut Sassounian has hit the bull's eye in his essay. Though the film may be inflammatory and ugly, that is not the ultimate cause of the anti-American protests. It is the pay-off for a long-term Western hubris and our version of the capitalist system. More particularly, the free-enterprise system seen as the universal salve and prescription for the world, regardless of peoples' history, culture and institutions, or lack of thereof.
Churchill said it well: "Democracy is the worst system of all, except for all the rest". The protests are against the arrogance of our promotion of democracy and the unregulated capitalism onto a people, regardless whether they like it or not. Look at what half-a-century or more of Soviet Communism has done to the wonderful culture of our Armenia. It has left us with a cesspool of greed and corruption, foreign to our venerable past. The West must wake up and rally around a democratic capitalism as promulgated by Ray Carey of Maryland or a socialistic democracy or capitalism as we see in Sweden or Finland. Our demigod has been the gross domestic product when it should be a gross happiness index or the equivalent for our society.
Western Hubris
Saudi Arabia epitomizes the Middle Easter country whose citizens would have protested against the West as "the pay-off for a long-term Western hubris and our version of the capitalist system," quoting Dick. However, Saudi Arabia has sidestepped the turmoil in the other Arab countries and there are no indications that such a social upheaval will happen there in the foreseeable future.
The anti-American riots are more than being against the foreign policies of America and have to do more with poverty, disfranchisement and autocratic rulers who do not have the means to trickle down wealth as the petro dollars enable Saudi Arabia to so do to buy social calm.
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