Dictators can often get way and for long time with treating their people like subhuman entities; so long as they can provide the basics, their people, for a variety of reasons, might tolerate their oppressive ways. But when they cannot even provide that, those hurting will begin to fight back, to reject, and they can bring the house down in time, no matter how violent the crackdown against them is.
الاعتراض على فكر داعش أو غيرها من الجماعات الإسلامية من منطلق اتهامها بأن أتباعها لا يعرفون التفسير الصحيح للدين أمر في غاية الإشكالية ويمثّل استمراراً للمشكلة ذاتها التي يعبّر عنها وجود هذه الجماعات أساساً: ألا وهي قضية احتكار الدين لصالح فئة ما من خلال الإصرار على وجود تفسير أو مجموعة من التفاسير وحدها هي الصحيحة وكل ما غيرها خطأ. ألا يعد هذا استمراراً لعقلية التكفير ذاتها التي تتبناها هذه الجماعات؟ وألم تساهم هذه العقلية في تسعير الصراع ما بين الطوائف الإسلامية المختلفة عبر القرون الماضية؟
When I referred in my post yesterday to Hady Al-Bahra’s appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I was not suggesting that he was wrong in doing so, I was merely explaining that, because it happened now and not two years ago, the impact of such an appearance will be minimal, and that we should not raise our hopes too much. After all, American officials are talking about a multi-year plan, even in connection with the upcoming training of the FSA.
Continue reading “The story of an old joke – a clarification”
Now that our plight has become the butt of jokes on late night comedy shows in the United States and Europe, and a variety of “light” newspaper editorials, we can rest assured that our misery will not end any time soon, and that our aspirations for freedom will have to be consigned to the farthest of the backburners currently burning. Pardon me if I cannot bring myself to laugh. The pain of it all aside, the joke is simply too old and predictable.
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 