CommonGroundNews.org – Partners in Humanity: Lessons from early American conversations with Islam
by Mokhtar Ghambou
New York, New York – To hear Americans and Muslims talk about each other over the past years, you’d think the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world has been permanently belligerent. The violence and inflammatory polemics generated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan make it difficult to think otherwise. But if intellectual history is any guide, no Western nation was as positively engaged with Muslim societies as the United States.
Let us take a few examples to clarify the history of relations between the United States and Islam. As US President Barack Obama recently acknowledged in his Cairo address, a Muslim-majority country, the Kingdom of Morocco, was the first nation to recognise the independence of the United States. In 1778, George Washington and the Alaoui Sultan Mohammed III signed a diplomatic treaty of friendship to protect all vessels carrying the American flag against piracy.
Judging from poems, plays or novels written during the early years of the post-colonial Republic, this first encounter with a Muslim-majority nation was an opportunity for 18th and 19th century Americans to gradually give way to an intense cultural dialogue with Muslims and Arabs. Considered the second oldest novel in America, Royall Tyler’s The Algerine Captive is a prime example.
Written in 1779, the book is about an American doctor from Boston who is captured by Muslim Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in Algeria. The main character, Doctor Updike Underhill, spends several years in captivity before gaining his freedom and returning to America.
Out of print for more than two centuries, the novel was revived with an unfortunate irony: it was reprinted in 2002 to provide a historical background to the 9/11 tragedy. As one critic wrote on its cover, the novel “lays bare a culture clash and diplomatic quagmire not unlike the one that [exists] between the United States and Muslim nations today.”
True, the novel’s tense atmosphere allows such a comparison, especially if one equates 18th century piracy to today’s terrorism. On closer inspection, however, the novel can serve as a solid reference to counter, not support, the clash of civilisation rhetoric: the narrative only dramatises political conflict with Islam to imagine possible ways to resolve it.
Tyler transformed the politics of captivity into a fascinating quest for knowledge. His protagonist initiates multiple dialogues over controversial issues – such as American slavery, stereotyping and conversion – with his Algerian captors, imams and other notables, eager at once to discover Islamic culture and promote his own Christian faith.
Royall Tyler paved the way for more famous writers—the pioneers of the American Renaissance—to expand their society’s knowledge of Islamic culture. Washington Irving wrote an intriguing book on Prophet Mohammad; Edgar Poe crafted an intriguing story on the Arabian Nights; and Hermann Melville drew extensively on Arabic texts in his classic Moby Dick, whose main characters are his companion, the Arabic-named Ishmael, the Ramadan-fasting Quequeeg and the Persian Fedallah.
By 1850, the Arabian Nights was so popular in the American imagination that Harriet Beecher Stowe, another major figure of the American Renaissance, exhorted American parents to tell Sheherazade’s stories to their children in order to cultivate their aesthetic values and appreciation for difference.
References to the Qur’an, the Prophet Mohammad and his companions were common practice amongst the founding fathers, writers and poets, from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman. Emerson, the father of American transcendentalism, described the Qur’an as the “kingdom of the will”, encouraging his American readers to view Prophets “Mahomet, Ali and Omar” as inspiring models of balanced “vigor” nurtured by “the sound mind in a sound body.”
Although transcendentalism was marketed as an American cultural brand, its pioneer — Emerson — acknowledged it as an Eastern Sufi philosophy originally inspired by Persian poets whom he read and translated.
These enlightening examples are worth keeping in mind as Americans and Muslims are about to open a new chapter in their relationship. To understand that our past traditions were much more tolerant of their mutual differences than we tend to think, will help us liberate the dialogue from the terrorists acting in the name of Islam and the conservative ideologues waiting for the latter’s bombs to set off their own clash of civilizations.
The challenge is certainly worth the effort by all Americans who believe in the richness of their own legacy.
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* Mokhtar Ghambou is professor of post-colonial studies and American literature at Yale University and president of the American Moroccan Institute. This article first appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer and was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
CG NEWS ARTICLE OF THE WEEK: Solving the Palestinian refugee problem: Is the ball in Israel’s court?
By Moshe Ma’oz
JERUSALEM – Over the decades, Israel has repeatedly asked the Arab countries to recognise it and form peaceful relations. Most of the Arab countries rejected this appeal, with the exception of Egypt, following the peace initiative led by Anwar Sadat in 1977, and Jordan in 1994.
Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem. Photo from Flickr used under a Creative Commons license.
However, in 2002 the Arab League, which is composed of 22 Arab nations, announced an unprecedented historical initiative for a comprehensive peace treaty with Israel at the centre of which was the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Successive Israeli governments, headed by Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu, either ignored or rejected this initiative even as a starting point for negotiations, thus missing a great opportunity for peace.
The governments of Israel and most of the Jewish-Israeli public were willing, of course, to accept the clauses in the Arab proposal that offered an end to the conflict, peace agreements, security arrangements and normal relations with Israel. But they weren’t willing to make the necessary concessions in return: withdrawal to the 1967 borders in the West Bank, the Golan and South Lebanon; the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and most significantly, a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN resolution 194 from December 1948.
It is true that the clause in the Arab League proposal dealing with the issue of the Palestinian refugees was made more rigid under pressure from Syria when it stated that Palestinian refugees will not be accepted as citizens in the Arab states where they have been living since 1948 (or 1967). The implication of this would seem to be that the only place where all the Palestinian refugees can currently live is in Israel. However, in practice we are primarily talking about the refugees in Syria and Lebanon, as Jordan already granted full citizenship to its Palestinian residents in 1949.
Moreover, many refugees, especially those living in Lebanon (about 300,000), could return to the future Palestinian state in the West Bank. It can also be assumed that in the context of a peace agreement, which would include the return of the Golan Heights, Syria could grant citizenship to the Palestinian refugees living within its borders (about 350,000).
The main point of contention regarding the Palestinian refugee issue has to do with the interpretations given to UN resolution 194. Many in Israel — including political leaders, journalists and academics — understand this resolution to be an affirmation of the “right of return” of all the Palestinian refugees to their homes in Israel: that is, a return of about four million Palestinians, which would destroy Israel’s Jewish character.
Palestinian Refugees. Photo from Flickr used under a Creative Commons license.
It is important to understand that this interpretation is erroneous and is intended to frighten the Jewish-Israeli public and prevent a solution to the Palestinian problem. True, the PLO’s traditional demand to realise the right of return (Haq El Awda) means a collective return for all Palestinian refugees to their homes in Israel. But UN Resolution 194, which was opposed by the Arab states and the Palestinians at the time, does not even mention the right of return. It states that refugees who wish to return to their homes (on an individual basis) “and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date”, and those who do not wish to return should receive compensation. That is, Israel would be given the option to allow or disallow the return of refugees and there is also the alternative of financial compensation.
The Arab League initiative also does not mention the right of return but talks about “a just solution to the problem of the Palestinian refugees which will be agreed upon based on UN Resolution 194”. That is, Israel must agree to absorb refugees or offer monetary compensation.
My colleagues and I have held long discussions about the subject with Palestinian academics who have adopted a pragmatic approach to solving the problem — meaning they agreed to see the right of return realised within a future Palestinian state, to the absorption of 100,000 refugees inside Israel in the framework of family reunification, and to the paying of collective compensation to the PLO and the Arab countries who host Palestinians and personal compensation to refugees who choose not to return.
But these Palestinian professors have raised an unequivocal demand from their Israeli interlocutors — to accept moral responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem in the 1948 “Nakba”. The Israelis on their part, who agreed to most of the compromise proposals, rejected this demand claiming that Israel did not attack, but was itself attacked in the war of 1948.
My suggestion at the time, and I will raise it again now, is that both sides — the Palestinians and the Israelis — should accept joint responsibility for the creation of the refugee problem, which was caused by a harsh war in which many Palestinians escaped or were expelled by the Israeli army.
It is doubtful whether the Netanyahu government would agree to such a gesture and to the absorption of tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees inside Israel.
Indeed, just recently Netanyahu turned to the Palestinians with a public demand to give up the right of return as a precondition for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It is clear that this demand is designed to thwart negotiations for a permanent solution, as it is not possible to order the Palestinians to erase this right from their historical consciousness and hearts.
It would have been much more appropriate had he suggested that this right should be realised within a future Palestinian state and that an agreed number of Palestinian refugees could return to Israel in the framework of family reunification, while others would receive compensation for the great suffering caused to them. All this would be conditional on a Palestinian commitment to “conclude the refugee chapter” as part of a peace agreement with Israel.
* Moshe Ma’oz is Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at The Hebrew University, and has published many works on the history and politics of Syria and Palestine, and on Arab-Israeli relations. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Read the full edition of this week’s Common Ground News Service.
VOICES FROM THE FIELD: Simone Grant in Liberia
Simone Grant is a intern with Search for Common Ground Liberia.
Search for Common Ground, known in West Africa as Talking Drum Studio, supports community radio as a tool for peacebuilding. Radio Kergheamahn is one such studio, partnering with Talking Drum Studio Liberia.
Lekpeley Gborlee, a producer and announcer for Radio Kergheamahn, reads the announcements amid the newly restored technical equipment.
“Ganta was Plunged Into Darkness”
Lightening struck Ganta, Liberia. Lekpeley Gborlee was reading the daily News Announcements on Radio Kergheamahn, the local community radio station, when the whole studio went black. “I heard a clap of thunder the first time, but I continued with the announcements. Then I heard a second clap of thunder and I saw the lightening strike through the studio and the computers exploded,” recalls Gborleee. From Grand Gedeh to parts of Guinea, all that could be heard on radio frequency 94.5FM was static. As it turns out, lightening had struck the satellite dish, which conducted the caustic current throughout the entire electrical system destroying the audio mixer, computers, CD and cassette decks, tuner and the transmitter. Unfortunately, it would be another two months before Radio Kergheamahn was back on the airwaves.
Immediately, the effect was felt. Musu Kardamie, co-chair of the Concerned Women’s Group, said, “Ganta was plunged into darkness.” People who would turn to the radio station to hear the local, national as well as international news no longer had a reliable source for information. Fortunately, the revenues from sponsorship programs and the very popular public announcements established a financial cushion for the radio station. Still, concerned listeners immediately visited the station and offered small donations to rebuild the broken equipment. Members of the community continued their tradition of generosity by donating hot meals to the workers who came from Monrovia to repair, replace and restore the technical equipment.
The community radio station is precious to the citizens of Ganta. Paramount Chief, Nyan Monker explains, “Radio is important in giving [the community] information that we weren’t hearing before. The central and local government used to do things and we wouldn’t know about it. Now, the radio station can follow behind the government and make sure that the community is informed.” It is no surprise that the community rallied behind the station during its time of crisis. as the community actively supports Radio Kergheamahn’s daily operations. The Public Announcement segment is very popular with the both local government and citizens alike. Additionally, various local organizations and religious groups consistently sponsor programs on the radio station. It is this consistent support that truly protected the radio station against terminal crisis.
CG NEWS ARTICLE OF THE WEEK: Ending ethnic tension in Xinjiang
By Yiyi Lu
Uighur Woman. Photo from Flickr used under a Creative Commons license.
Nottingham, United Kingdom – Violence in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang has attracted worldwide attention in the past few weeks. With 192 dead and over 1,721 injured, the scale of violence is among the most severe in decades. While the impact of some Uighurs’ demands for independence cannot be dismissed entirely, the biggest factors behind the rising tension between the Chinese government and the ethnic Uighurs are socio-economic and demographic.
The autonomous Xinjiang region currently has a population of 21 million, of which approximately nine million are Muslim Uighurs and eight million are Hans. There are also 45 other ethnic groups, but their numbers are comparatively small.
Although the different ethnic groups in Xinjiang have shared a common, peaceful history over long periods of time, ethnic tension has increased in recent years.
In 1949, Hans accounted for less than seven per cent of Xinjiang’s population – compared to almost 40 per cent today. The Han population is concentrated in urban centres such as Urumqi, Shihezi and Karamay, where living standards are generally much higher than in the countryside.
In an effort to boost economic development in recent years, Beijing has poured more money into infrastructure projects in Xinjiang, such as new railway lines, roads and airports.
Ironically, this investment has intensified ethnic tension, as Uighurs complain that the new jobs created by these projects have mostly benefited Hans, as the infrastructure projects are undertaken by state companies that prefer to hire Han Chinese. And although Beijing stresses that the number of ethnic minority officials in the government has increased by 300,000 in the past 50 years, with a proportional number of positions filled by Uighurs, they feel this has not provided greater autonomy from Beijing which they seek.
Meanwhile the Han population, which transferred to Xinjiang in successive movements from 1949 onward, also feels deprived. Many of them have long resented the preferential treatment reserved for Uighurs, such as quota systems for university education opportunities, as well as the differential application of the family planning policy that allows Uighur families to have more than one child, a policy initiated by the Chinese government to protect the minorities in China.
Identity-based factors for the recent ethnic violence cannot be discarded.
The Chinese government has not had an accommodating stance toward ethnic minority groups seeking independence – Tibet being the best-known example.
Uighur Tombs in Xinjiang region in Northwestern China. Photo from Flickr used under a Creative Commons license.
Moreover, Uighur separatist organisations with bases in neighbouring Afghanistan have carried out a series of bombings and assassinations in China. This has led Beijing to implement a harsh domestic response and develop policies that follow contemporary Western counter-terrorism efforts. Most recently, Beijing has blamed Uighur exile groups based in Western countries for instigating the violence.
Ultimately, for Uighurs and Hans to live peacefully together, the legitimate complaints of both groups must be addressed. Political, social and economic realities have led to this conflict, meaning that sound policies in these areas can also provide a solution. As a start, Beijing’s development policies should be more balanced. For instance, the Chinese government must address unemployment through targeted programmes that increase Uighur employment rates, and implement policies that raise the income of Uighurs in rural areas.
Uighurs and Hans also need to understand the other’s perspective. As the majority group in China, the Hans bear a greater responsibility for maintaining positive ethnic relations. Only a few days ago, a mass text message signed by a Han Chinese was sent to mobile phones across the country saying that he was going to eat in a halal (food permissible according to Islamic law) restaurant and buy a Uighur author’s book so he could better understand their perspective. If every Han and Uighur could take a positive step like this, it would be the kind of beginning needed to rebuild trust through constructive dialogue.
* Yiyi Lu is a research fellow at the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University and an associate fellow of the Asia Programme at Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs). This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Read the full edition of this week’s Common Ground News Service.
Port of Gibraltar. Photo from Flickr used under a Creative Commons license.
In an historic move, Spain’s foreign minister visited Gibraltar yesterday. This was the first official visit by a Spanish Cabinet minister to the disputed British colony in almost 300 years.
Of primary concern in this territorial dispute has been the Strait of Gibraltar, a strategic strait connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the main waterway separating Spain from Morocco. Though neither Spain nor Britain has renounced its claim on this small territory, this move signifies the willingness of both Spanish and British government officials to engage in a cooperative relationship working to improve the lives of the roughly 30,000 residents: a constructive example in international dispute resolution.
View of Africa from Gibraltar. Photo from Flickr used under a Creative Commons license.
Read the full article on The Boston Globe.
VOICES FROM THE FIELD: Shana Kirsch in Côte d’Ivoire
Shana Kirsch is an intern with Search for Common Ground Côte d’Ivoire.
During the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, youth – young men as well as women – played a particularly active role, taking up arms in support of both the government forces and the Forces Nouvelles rebel group. Once regarded as a model of modern progress and economic development among its West African neighbors, Côte d’Ivoire began suffering from the effects of an economic downturn even before the outbreak of conflict in 2002. Young people, many who had left their rural hometowns for educational and work opportunities in the cities, were faced with diminishing employment prospects. At the same time, politicians were embracing a divisive rhetoric, exacerbating tensions between diverse ethnic groups present in Côte d’Ivoire. Immigrants from neighboring countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso who contributed significantly to the development of Côte d’Ivoire’s economy – particularly in terms of coffee and cacao cultivation – were increasingly marginalized and targeted as “foreigners,” excluded from the concept of Ivorian identity.
In this highly politicized context, as young people began losing hope for legitimate economic opportunities, they became increasingly susceptible to political manipulation. Politicians on all sides distributed money, food and t-shirts in exchange for the support of young Ivorians, whose frustrations and hopelessness were easily channeled into violent and antagonistic actions on behalf of political parties. Although the crisis has subsided since the signing of the Ouagadougou Peace Accord in 2007, and the country is preparing for national elections in November 2009, tensions among ethnic groups remain. There is still a real risk for renewed violence and conflict, particularly as young people continue to face severe unemployment.
Search for Common Ground established a presence in Côte d’Ivoire in 2005 with the goals of promoting social dialogue and strengthening local capacities for non-violent conflict transformation. In response to the context described above, SFCG in Côte d’Ivoire launched a two-year project in 2007 with funding from the European Commission in order to increase young people’s positive involvement in the civic and democratic electoral process. Making use of both media production and community outreach activities, SFCG targeted youth and women in conflict-affected regions of the country, providing trainings on topics such as conflict resolution, rumor management, and electoral observation, as well as dialogue sessions and community forums that created new opportunities for women and youth to voice their opinions and concerns. ‘
As part of the final evaluation for the European Commission-funded project, I carried out a case study in Sassandra, a coastal city in Côte d’Ivoire’s southwest region of Bas Sassandra, to measure the impact of SFCG’s activities on young peoples’ participation in the democratic process. The case study allowed me to interact face-to-face with the local population, gaining invaluable information that shed light on SFCG’s affect on the community, as well as on problems and challenges that still remain.
The results of the case study showed that SFCG’s presence in Sassandra had a significant impact on young peoples’ self-image and self-confidence. Through their participation in SFCG’s training sessions on leadership and rumor management, they developed the self-confidence and analytical skills required to resist politicians’ attempts at manipulation. At the same time, they began to shift their ideas about the roles young people can play in society; while the conflict was characterized by their role as perpetrators of violence and aggression, young people are beginning to embrace the role of peacekeepers and community leaders. For example, a group of young people who participated in SFCG’s community events decided to create a “listening club” that gathers regularly to listen to SFCG’s radio programs, which are broadcast on local and national radio stations. They then hold discussions on the topics explored through the radio programs (ranging from children’s and women’s rights to conflict management and coexistence) and create and implement outreach campaigns to help disseminate key messages to local residents.
Relations between generations have shown signs of improvement as well. Many older members of the community lost a significant amount of trust in young people during the conflict as they were generally viewed as lacking credibility, inciting (or carrying out) acts of violence, and easily succumbing to political manipulation. But as young people have become more active in positive community activities – such as the “listening club” described above – trust is being rebuilt and all members of the community are beginning to realize the positive and constructive role that young people can play in Côte d’Ivoire’s development.
Despite these positive changes, young people still face many challenges, particularly in light of the global economic crisis and continually high unemployment rates in Sassandra and other cities. Throughout all of my interactions with community members, the question of unemployment surfaced time and time again. The consensus appears to be that as long as educated young people have limited opportunities to earn a viable living, the risk of conflict and violence will remain. However, with the spaces for dialogue and inter-group exchange that have been created by SFCG’s work on the ground, combined with the skills and knowledge acquired by young people through their involvement in SFCG’s activities, local systems have been strengthened in a way that will help mitigate future conflicts as they arise, involving young people in a positive and meaningful way in the search for common ground.
