The most important thing is not to fear at all

akio:

I don’t buy Jeffrey Goldberg (mostly ‘Not at all’) - and I really don’t think much of Walter Russell Mead. Thus the cheap introduction part is not quoted in. 

My experience has been that antisemitism (personal or political etc) can exist at anywhere anytime. it’s a strong, potent and ubiquitous ‘meme’ - we haven’t - we never have come to deal with necessary amount of seriousness. 

It’s not particular thing to Egypt, or poor, or ‘backward’ human groups, or Middle East or anything. It’s like very common mold spore - just need a bit of humidity and it says ‘Hi’. 

And problem is we don’t have effective counter-meme, vaccination (preventive etc) - developed. We’ve been barely serious about it - likewise with most of the racism we humans carry. 

Problem really - to me - is that we decided to cover this problem with shallow denial, shallow behavioral solutions. Facade. Facile. Just say, just say it (the spore) is not on me, or not on you, not on anyone - 

Well. That’s not true at all. 

We need the new real way to talk about it, new courage and really strong psychology to talk through about this ‘collective’ virus or meme  - and work on to build the measures to deal with, repair this problem. 

But then, as same with the case of most of the racism - the actual society really cannot - yet to - accept those real measures to counter these viruses (racisms). Our societies are mostly far from such points. 

And that limit - even clouds the eyes we have, the way we talk about, the way we can think about the problem. (But then, the most crushing part of this problem is the goodness, the courage, the creativity we all internally, potentially have is so enormous, but they never can be unleashed on the problem of races, racism - anti-semitism included.)

And it’s been that way, probably way too long. 

Egyptian television is filled with such sociology. One popular series depicts an Egyptian diplomat stationed in Tel Aviv who robs Israeli banks on the side. The show was promoted by a Middle East satellite channel, which claimed that it would “surprise the audience with the sweetest jokes about the cheap Jew.”

A television show called “Il Hukm Ba’d il Muzawla,” a kind of “Candid Camera” knockoff, provides further evidence that Judeophobia in Egypt has become pathological. The show lures celebrities into an interview under the pretense that it will air on a foreign television station, and then tries to discomfit them by claiming they’re actually being interviewed for an Israeli show.

Recently, the show targeted actor Ayman Kandeel. The episode didn’t proceed as smoothly as planned. According to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute, the interviewer, an Egyptian woman named Iman Mubarak, surprises Kandeel by admitting that he’s appearing on Israeli television, and not German, as he was promised. A producer named Amr Alaa appears on set and asks Kandeel if there’s a problem.

Kandeel responds, “May I ask who you are?” Alaa, who is Arab, answers, “I am an Israeli.” More words are exchanged, and then Alaa says: “This is my channel. I am never afraid. It is you who are afraid, and that is why you are carrying a gun.”

“I don’t have a gun,” Kandeel responds. “To use my gun against you, I need to feel that you are worth something. But let me tell you what I can do. You stand right here. Relax.”

Kandeel then attacks Alaa, slapping him and shoving him, throwing chairs and cursing. He wheels on Mubarak, slaps her — knocking her against a wall — and curses her. A staff member runs onto the set: “Ayman, please, it’s a prank. Shame on you for hitting a woman.”

Kandeel is given Mubarak’s identification card, to prove that she isn’t Israeli. Finally, he says, “She’s Egyptian?”

“You hit me so hard,” Mubarak says.

Kandeel: “It was just one slap.” The audience applauds. Then he makes her an offer: “After the show, come to my car with me. I’ll put some lotion on your back.”

‘Long Live Egypt’

The next guest, the actress Mayer al-Beblawi, unburdens herself of an anti-Semitic tirade before being told the show is an Israeli production. The Israelis, she begins, “are real liars. They keep whining all the time about the Holocaust, or whatever it’s called. With all the Palestinians that you have killed, you are still whining about the Holocaust and its lousy figures?” She goes on: “They are the slayers of the prophets, what else can we say about them.”

The host, Mubarak, then provokes her: “You’ve got it wrong. They are the Chosen People.” Al-Beblawi responds: “The Chosen People? Allah did not curse the worm and the moth as much as he cursed the Jews.”

Al-Beblawi didn’t resort to violence. But the next guest, Mahmoud Abd al-Ghaffar, did, screaming at Mubarak, “You are a Jew!” and then pulling Alaa by the hair. Mubarak shouts: “Mahmoud, this is a ‘Candid Camera’ show. We are all Egyptians. Long live Egypt!”

Al Ghaffar says, “You brought me someone who looks like a Jew,” and then hugs Alaa. He turns to Mubarak: “If you weren’t a girl, the moment you told me you were Jewish … I hate the Jews to death.”

Mubarak then makes a statement that captures almost perfectly the moral perversion of the prank: “I’d like to tell you that I enjoyed today’s episode with Mahmoud. I didn’t know that there could be such patriotism, but it exists in every Egyptian who breathes the air of this country.”

In a column published last week, the Washington Post’s Colbert King correctly indicted the leadership of Iran as sponsors of “the most virulent form of state-sanctioned anti- Semitism since Nazi Germany.” It is true that the Iranian leadership is wildly anti-Semitic, but, on my visits to Iran, I’ve never personally felt the hatred of Jews on the popular level.

Not so in Egypt, where the virus has spread widely. As we just saw in the Sinai region, where militants killed 16 Egyptian soldiers and tried to storm across the Israeli border on Aug. 5, Egypt has serious problems, and they don’t have much to do with “cheap Jews.”

Any country in which anti-Semitism is considered a form of patriotism is in dire trouble.

(Jeffrey Goldberg is a Bloomberg View columnist and a national correspondent for the Atlantic. The opinions expressed are his own.)

whoweretheqajars:

You know, Ajam Media Collective? Them!

This week, two totally different cases saw real progress towards resolution due to persistence, focus on achievable results and the use of nonviolent means. Palestinian prisoners and supporters of their just and reasonable requests in Palestine, the Arab world, and the international community saw a successful resolution of their demands. The end of administrative detentions was the aim when Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi began the protests with a pair of hunger strikes followed by Thaer Halahla and Bilal Diab. This was followed by 1,600 prisoners demanding the end of solitary confinement, permission for family visits especially for Gaza families denied such visits since 2007 and agreement to allow prisoners to follow up educational pursuits. Thousands of prisoners refrained from eating for over 28 days while the administrative detainees went into their third month of a dangerous hunger strike. The selfless action of the prisoners touched people around the world who began numerous campaigns on social media and in front of UN agencies, and other forms of protests. In Amman, 15 young people, including two women, started their own hunger strike in a tent outside the Professional Associations Complex. They were especially supportive of over two dozen Jordanians in Israeli prisons, including Abdullah Barghouthi. The image of these supporters wearing light brown outfits resembling the prisoners’ uniforms went viral on line as they exchanged their own pictures with a faceless, brown-wearing sketch. Government officials in Jordan, Egypt, the U.S. and the EU, as well as the secretary general of the UN, were forced to take a stand and pressure the Israelis to accept the demands and use international standards for incarceration. The end was an Egyptian government-brokered deal that responded to most demands by Palestinian prisoners.

In another incident, Jordanian media professionals decided to investigate the status of persons with disabilities at privately-run centers. Radio Al Balad’s investigation unit and the Arab world’s investigative journalism network ARIJ cooperated over a year to look into the case. Because the media have little access to these centers, and due to the lack of serious monitoring, Al Balad’s journalist Hanan Khandakji was dispatched to do undercover reporting.

She volunteered at a few centers, and over a 12-month period was able to collect damning evidence of verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Attempts to get government officials to better scrutinize the center failed to produce results.Before publishing the report, the BBC Arabic TV station was approached and agreed to film a documentary based on the evidence collected. The two sides agreed to broadcast/publish the investigation simultaneously, along with The Alghad newspaper. The combined local and international video-based media coverage produced quick results. The King made an unannounced visit to Ibn Khaldoun and Al Razi centers, both owned by a single entrepreneur. After the visit, and based on the initial media evidence, His Majesty instructed the prime minister to quickly and comprehensively investigate the charges, turn over to the judiciary those guilty of wrongdoing and provide him with results within two weeks. Families of children with disabilities warmly welcomed the King’s intervention and will be awaiting the results of the special committee.

In both the prisoner protests and the media investigation a clear trend can be identified. Injustice is recognized, clear attainable goals are identified, comprehensive plans are assembled, hard work is invested over a long period and the public is involved. All this is done without violence, with strong determination and active effort and follow up.

While many choose the shortcut of violence or revolution to effect changes, it is clear that although nonviolent and society civil-based activities take longer time, they can produce impressive and tangible results.In the two above cases, actions and results cannot be expected based on a one-off activity or a faza (communal knee jerk emotional outburst); they require long-term, focused and comprehensive plans. Community leadership development (prisoners showed leadership), institutional capacity building, financial and administrative support are all important ingredients that must be included for results to be comprehensive and long lasting.

(via akio)