It is hard to believe when one reads some of the op-eds and articles that have been written about him in the 24 hours following his passing that beyond the façades of decency, kindness and intelligence that Dr. Fouad Ajami always projected lay an actually decent, kind and intelligent man. For, unfortunately, the truth can often be hidden under a ton of ideological nonsense.
Mere disaffection with the status quo in the world, or one’s lot in it, is not enough to help chart a path beyond it. A guiding vision is needed, and in order to formulate the right vision, which needs be inclusive and fair, an open debate of the issues is a must. Otherwise, processes will be guided and outcomes determined by figures and parties armed with the narrowest of visions and the lowest of ethical standards, people like Putin and his obsession with the return of Greater Russia, and groups like Al-Qaeda and its determination to revive the obsolete Caliphate system. While neither Putin nor Al-Qaeda is in a position to directly threaten global peace and stability, the localized regional mayhem they create is more than sufficient to harm millions of people, making this world a more dangerous place than it needs to be and rendering hope in a better future irrelevant. Atavistic longings cannot pave the way to a better future.
We should be idealistic, yes, but not stupid, realistic, yes, but not indifferent.
Can we stop genocide without recourse to violence, or at least the threat of it? Do psychopaths who embark on mass methodical killings leave us much of a choice when it comes to the methods that we need to deploy to stop them? How do we deal with psychopaths whose very strategy is meant to defeat the nonviolence ethos by upping the levels of violence to the maximum allowed by the instruments of deaths under their disposal, by deploying it methodically, and by targeting the very figures and voices who are leading the nonviolent movement? How do we deal with psychopaths who are so committed to drawing blood from their nonviolent opponents they regularly plant well-armed agents of violence within their ranks?
Continue reading “Of idealism and indifference! – A call for an open debate”
It is not easy for me to criticize an American president, irrespective of his ideological background, because when I do, my criticism often get used by all sorts of anti-American forces in the Arab World, and beyond, in their attack against America and American values, that is, the very values which I long came to embrace, albeit always critically. For, to me, America is an idea, a worthy idea, whose advancement requires critical adherence not blind faith, and armies of analysts and scientists not militias and informants.
Continue reading “On Heresy & Apostasy in Politics and Religion”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 