It's Time for Recognition, Truth, and Reparations

When I was growing up, in school we spent a lot of time in history class learning about the horrors of racism in the US, and in particular slavery.  This was understandable as it is a huge part of American history, and also considering that the school district was majority black.

But it is interesting to note that even though we covered the Middle Passage and Harriet Tubman and Uncle Tom's Cabin year after year, we never once learned in class which culture actually started the African slave trade.  Nor did we learn that even today, there are hundreds of thousands of black Africans still enslaved by members of that same certain culture.  These are things I had to seek out on my own.  Hmmm....

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There has actually been a lot of accounting for some of the atrocities that have transpired in the world in recent centuries.  Germany has admirably led the way by taking full responsibility for the Holocaust and the Nazi regime, by compensating the victims and zealously stamping out any symbols of that era.  The Western European colonial powers have largely recognized the injustices of their colonial empires.  America is aware of its shameful past of slavery, racism, and theft from Native Americans, and there is even discussion of financial reparations.  America has apologized and compensated victims of the WW2 era Japanese internment.  Japan has officially apologized for its use of foreign 'comfort women' in that same era.

Even when apologies, recognition, and reparations have not yet happened, there has often been a widespread movement to keep memories of the atrocities alive.  For instance people still fight for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Holodomor Famine, and the Rape of Nanking.

Now let's take a minute to realize the crucial point that there is, just to take one case from the list above, absolutely nothing anti-German or "racist against Germans" or "Germanophobic" in seeking to have Germany take responsibility for the crimes of the Nazi era.  Keep this in mind.

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There is a litany of horrors perpetrated in recent centuries by one particular group that is almost completely unknown in the West, even among educated and informed people.  That group is Arabs.  The horrors include:

1) Starting the African slave trade

2) Continuing the African slave trade long after Western counties abolished it

3) STILL, in 2014, enslaving hundreds of thousands of black Africans in countries such as Sudan and Mauretania

4) Ethnically cleansing at least 750,000 Jews from Arab countries after 1948

5) The Barbary Corsairs' kidnapping and enslaving millions of Europeans and others from the 1600s until the Barbary Wars

6) Launching a war in 1948 with the stated genocidal intent to "drive the Jews into the sea."

7) Carrying out a cultural and now possibly physical genocide of the ancient Assyrian people

8) The recent near complete elimination of the ancient Mandean people

9) Collaborating with and supporting the axis powers during WW2

(It should be mentioned that the later was not nearly universal in the Arab world, but for reference neither was German support for the Nazi regime, and yet Germany took responsibility as a whole.)

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So, here we have an undeniable litany of horrors perpetrated by Muslim Arabs, any one of which would be widely acknowledged if it was perpetrated by a Western country.  And yet from the Arab world we have heard no hint of responsibility, no hint even of recognition.

In fact the Arab world has gone to great lengths of obfuscate and deny these events.  In the recent UN Conference on Racism (known as Durban III) the Arab and Muslim countries sponsored a resolution condemning the "Trans-Atlantic" slave trade, the text of which completely omitted the Arab and Muslim role in it and other slave systems of the time.

It is high time that the Arab world be held to account for these horrible injustices and crimes against humanity, just as Germany has been held to account for the Nazis, the Western powers have been held to account for Colonialism, Japan has been held to account for some WW2 atrocities, and so on.

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The Arab world is uniquely positioned to recognize and pay reparations for these atrocities.

- The coffers of the Gulf oil monarchies are overflowing with cash which could be used for monetary reparations for victims of the African slave trade, and the Assyrian and Mandean genocides.

- Given that European colonialism lasted for around 25 to 50 years in the Middle East (longer in Algeria, obviously), the Arab world should consider it a good deal if they and Europe could call it even when both the Barbaray slave trade and European colonialism are considered.

And finally

- Most of the Jewish victims of Arab ethnic cleansing ended up in Israel, so acceptable reparations for the ethnic cleansing of Jews and the launching of the 1948 war of genocidal intent could be 1) immediate recognition of Israel and 2) the dropping of all claims to compensation or any territory West of the Jordan River.

More Authentic Indigenousness from the Non-Western Indigenous Brown People of the Middle East

We all know how Israel is a country full of boring patriarchal white Europeans, while the Arabs of the Middle East are exciting indigenous brown people who have a beautiful civilization.  Of course any negative aspects of Arab culture, such as occasionally treating women as less than equals, here and there celebrating people who strap on bombs and blow up children, and maybe once in a while flogging or killing someone suspected of being gay, must be due to Western colonialism and the indignity of having to live with Jews in their midst.

Nothing highlights this more than the recent controversy regarding Lebanese Winter Olympic Athlete Jacky Chamoun.  The ruckus erupted because Chamoun simply wanted to express her Indigenous liberated womanhood with some tasteful swimsuit photos.  Unfortunately, the orientalist men that run Lebanon are misinterpreting Islam, Christianity, and Arab culture as something that would frown on this.

First, some pictures of the lovely Ms. Chamoun:

First of all, let's marvel at how brown (tm) and totally non-white (tm) she totally is!!  I mean look at that red hair, light eyes, and pale skin!  No wonder those white Khazar Jews engage in apartheid (tm).

More importantly though, an adult woman doing something that is totally within her right and unrelated to her Olympic performance would only trigger an investigation in a country if that country had been the victim of Western colonialism and had to suffer the indignity of having Israel next door.  I mean how can a country be expected to treat its women and gays nicely when just over the border lousy Jews have transformed a desert and built a remarkable society at the forefront of science and technology?

If it wasn't for Israel and Jews, Jacky Chamoun, the brown indigenous brown person, would live in a country full of feminist indigenous brown people and be able to ski and pose for photographs in peace.  Alas, Israel ruins everything.

Kudos to A Brave Palestinian Woman

A 25-year-old Muslim woman, Bushra Khalilieh is a true example of bravery.

Maan News reports on this:

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel has sent a delegation of 100 students to represent it in the annual Apartheid Week in South Africa, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.

The report in Maariv noted one unusual participant in this year's delegation -- a 25-year-old Muslim Bushra Khalilieh, a member of Israel's Arab minority in the Galilee.

The newspaper said Khalilieh was attending university in one of South Africa’s university campuses. Khalilieh, who wears a hijab, came to Israel's defense during activities on campus.

"We toured Johannesburg and Cape Town’s campuses and met local students," she said.

"We spoke with them about Israel and I told them about my personal issue as an Arab girl living in Israel. I feel Israel to be my hometown where there’s equality and I have all my rights.”

"When students hear us, they are surprised as there are some who do not even know there are Arabs living in Israel. I, as an Arab Israeli girl, love my country and believe that it seeks peace and respects all its citizens.”

Khalilieh, a masters student at Tel Aviv University, stressed that she represents herself and not the position of the Israeli government.

“I represent myself as a Muslim Arab who lives in Israel as a liberal and free girl unlike other Arab girls who live in Arab countries and do not have the human rights I have like freedom of expression and dignity.”

She added: "There are people who are calling to boycott us and say that there is apartheid in Israel, but I try to show Israel as a country that’s different from what they think."

 

If only the BDS Crowd or their Hard Right counterparts could see this.

 

Here is a woman that will speak "truth to power" and stand up for what is right while at the same time presenting a positive view of cooperation between Jews and Palestinians in Israel.

 

For the BDS crowd it is important because they are so filled with misinformation regarding the state of Israeli Arabs with whom they conflate with Palestininans in the West Bank. Obviously this young woman, who attends the University in Tel-Aviv is not suffering from the ravages of an imagined Apartheid system (under which this situation would never occur). This goes hand in hand with the many examples of Israeli Arabs wanting to stay a part of Israel rather than move to or become part of a Palestinian State.

 

This echo's my experience living in Israel around the Israeli Arabs that I met. They were all students at the University and I did not see any outright examples of discrimmination towards them. Now, was their racism there. Yes there was, were there "unspoken" barriers placed before them... Yep. BUT, it was nothing like what the BDS'ers (or those suffering from Israel Derangement Syndrome) portray.

 

And for those on the Hard Right suffering from MDS (Muslim Derangement syndrome), this along with many other examples goes to show that not all Muslims (and I would venture most) are truly out for our blood. Because that too was my experience living in Israel and interacting with both Jewish and Arab Israelis. In fact, my worst experience was with a young Kahanist... anyway..

 

I just thought I would add this hopeful story.