Muslim, Democrats, and Prime Ministers..OH MY

So earlier this week David Cameron (British Prime Minister) took a trip to Indonesia and stated (among many other things) that: “What Indonesia shows is that in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, it is possible to reject this extremist threat and prove that democracy and Islam can flourish alongside each other.” Which in someways makes sense.

This guy

not this guy

 But the Guardian was quick to counter point and critique Cameron, claiming that he left out a few convient facts. Like that confessing monotheistic belief is required, or that the president is a military general, or that in many ways Indonesia is an oligarchy. Which all may very well be true, however what raised my ire was when Indonesia's problems were compared along side and claimed as the most likely potential of the Arab Spring: "In fact, Indonesia's trajectory might suggest a rather different message – and likely outcome"

sigh...okay lets unpack this

It may very well be true that both Egypt and Indonesia are both Islamic, and it may very well be true these democracies were born out of the violent overthrow of a (EUROPEAN IMPOSED) military dictatorship. But that does not, DOES NOT, mean that they are the same Guardian.  I'm mean for fuck's sake this is exactly what I was talking about last post. The west has a catastrophic assumption that Islam contains within it a dangerous bias (or even extremist intolerance) against everything that isn't Islam. The Guardian is taking these structural problems of a post colonialist system and blaming them solely as the responsibility and consequence of Islam. They are forgetting to take into account that many of these problems were caused by European Colonialism in the region, in the first place. Corruption, oligarchy, and other issues in Indonesia may be in someways supported by certain interpretations of Islam but that doesn't inherently mean that what has occurred in Indonesia will happen in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, or anywhere else in the Arab spring because they allow Islam to participate in their democratic process.

GAHHHHhhhhhHHHHhhhHHh

And people wonder why I'm angry all the time....Gods. 

Till next time

Jacob 

Articles mentioned

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17686174

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/12/indonesian-democracy-scrutiny-david-cameron?newsfeed=true

http://dawn.com/2012/04/12/cameron-praises-indonesia-as-model-of-democracy-and-islam/

Hijabs, Hoodies, and Swing Votes: Continuing Racism and Islamophobia in the US

            It would be an understatement to say that Treyvon Martin’s death is nothing short of an outrage and is evidence of the continued presence of systemic racism in the United States. However, Ms. Sarsour points out so eloquently it is also evidence of the fact that in the current discourse of ‘post-racial’ America discrimination against many groups is being rendered invisible due to of a lack of discussion.

*sigh*

            In this particular case we turn to Islamophobia and racism towards those appear to be Arabic and Muslim. In the case of Ms. Sarsour’s article this discussion focuses primarily on last week’s brutal murder of Ms. Shaima Alawadi in El Cajon, California. This hostility is in many ways caused by the tension created by the events 9/11 and the equally violent response by the US government and its armed forces. But it could also be spurred on by the fact that “the next largest numbers of Muslim voters are found in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia, all of which could be key battlegrounds between President Barack Obama and his Republican opponent” (Greene). It is an interesting connection to note considering the return of increase Islamophobia and general racism by the conservative elements of this country in many ways coincides with this recent statistic. As this provides Muslim Americans with a direct line to the presidency it gives them a greater a degree of political power meaning that there is a distinct possibility will begin to see an appeal to the interests of Muslim Americans having strong political currency causing those with anti-Muslim planks in their platform to lose vital electoral votes in key battleground states.

This new power may, in many ways, be perceived as those already anti-Muslim as a direct threat to the political stability of this country, meaning that this coming election could be a very interesting (and potentially terrifying) one to watch in terms of the political representation and perception of Islam in this country.

hopefully not like this

Till Next Time,
Jacob 

Articles discussed:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/05/my-take-my-hijab-is-my-hoodie/

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/03/muslim-voters-could-swing-election-report-finds/