Violence this week in Libya, Egypt and Yemen has once again brought to the fore inherent tensions between free speech, however offensive, and religious dignity. Some political analysts in Cairo invoke the dictum that the remedy for such speech is more speech.
The attacks on US missions in Libya, Egypt and Yemen highlight how easily passions against the nominal ally of those countries can be ignited. An obscure, crudely-made American video mocking the Prophet Muhammed triggered rage and murder.
“This is the price of extremism. If those who made the film wanted an extremist reaction, they got it. They succeeded,” said Said Sadek, a professor of Political Sociology at the American University in Cairo.
Sadek argues extremists on both sides got what they wanted: for one, proof that Islam is violent, for the other, that America is the enemy of their religion - points scored at the expense of those in the middle, including slain US ambassador Chris Stevens.
“The majority of people, Muslims and Christians, are not extremists but they're captives of those extremists on both sides. Each side is provoking something and then the others are responding and they try to push the silent majority into extremism and suspicion and intolerance,” Sadek said.
Sadek says it's an anti-Western political agenda easy to deploy.
“There is a misunderstanding in Muslim countries [about] the relationship between government and media," he said. "They still believe it's like in autocratic regimes: the government orders the media to do this or to do that. President Obama did not order that movie about Islam is made. In fact, he is being accused in America that he is pro-Muslim.”
Libya's government was clear in its condemnation of the Benghazi attack. Egypt's initial response made no direct mention of the death of Ambassador Stevens, although a day later it rejected the``unlawful acts'' against foreign embassies.
“I don't think that the government has enough political capital to actually counter that vision. They cannot state that 'Well, okay, there's an offensive movie but it's not that important and it does not represent the U.S. administration and it's a matter of free speech.' They could never say that,” said Ziad Akl Moussa, a political analyst in Cairo.
It's a dynamic that has played out several times in recent years, with Danish cartoons of the prophet and other western images deemed insulting provoking bursts of outrage.
“It's a contention over putting creativity on a pedestal in the West and actually putting a red line behind it in the East. It doesn't mean that this is wrong and this is right, it simply means that it's different. But we never addressed that,” Moussa said.
He argues until governments frame the question as one of freedom of expression, not a fight over religion, such violence “will happen again and again.”
political capital: 政治资本
经典美文:漫漫自由路Long Walk to Freedom
经典英语美文:钢琴诗人——肖邦
停下抱怨,拥抱人生的新一页
英语说奥运:里约健儿的个性发型竟引吐槽?
成为偶像之前,请先找到真正的自己
四种方法让迷失了的你不再彷徨
你想过吗?你为何而生?
经典双语美文:我和我的大提琴
不讲理,里约奥运村发套套的小哥说火就火
哈佛大学倾情推荐:20个让你更加快乐的小习惯(上)
放下手机,一起感受一下生活吧!
喜欢尝鲜?风险与回报并存
你认为什么才是最重要的呢?
不一样的情致:图书馆情缘
当爱在召唤你的时候
你的思想,就是你对这个世界的主宰力
意想不到的孩子的礼物
即使是生命中的喧嚣,我们亦可拥抱
网球不仅是网球,还是你的居家好帮手
未经历过这11种情感体验,你的人生就不算完整
美文赏析:我的座机情结
经典双语美文:会思考的鱼
没有抱负的世界,你能否接受?
将爱和伤害分别写在沙子和石头上
爱的价值,只是时间能够了解
我的记忆力,你还可以再抢救一下吗?
清华北大正式入围世界大学学术百强名单
讨厌被吐槽?但你却还在吐槽别人?
你所品尝的是水的味道还是水的心意
人生哲理之真正的伟大见于平凡之中
不限 |