Media Review; François Burga: Zionism is a racist ideology, two models for apossible solution--Algerian or South African model

Media Review; François Burga: Zionism is a racist ideology, two models for apossible solution--Algerian or South African model

    Tuesday, May 07, 2024   No comments

This weeks media review focus on a conversation with the French intellectual and Middle East Studies expert, François Borga. In this summary of the interview with Aljazeera, we highlight some of his insight about the ongoing war on Gaza and the future of the conflict in general.

French academic and researcher François Borga said that October 7 helped a large number of southern countries, including South Africa, Ireland and Spain to some extent, demonstrate an awareness that all measures indicate is irreversible.

The professor of political science and researcher at the French National Authority for Scientific Research in the city of Aix-en-Provence, southeastern France, added, “The Zionist ideology, as adopted by the current ruling elite, and also by the majority of Netanyahu’s opponents, is a racist sectarian ideology very similar to the ideology of Netanyahu.” ISIS, which does not allow any form of coexistence.”

He considered - in his interview with Al Jazeera Net - that Israel has never sought peace, but only for land, by all means, even illegal ones, and Israeli leaders have received blind support in this matter from their Western partners.

He explained that last October 7 “launched a process that means that Israel may not be able to continue with impunity to follow such shortcuts with regard to international law, or basic humanitarian principles.”

How to understand the West’s financing of the Israeli war on Gaza in exchange for protests from Western people and youth against this war?

On the international scene, the position of Western governments is certainly irrational in light of their well-understood economic and political interests in the medium and long term, but unfortunately it is still almost consistent with their “following” the direction of their voters.

"It is necessary to understand that the weakness of popular support for the Palestinian cause results from changing positions within the two main political families in France: the right and the left... The right rejects various expressions of decolonization, and as for the left, its stated reluctance to support the Palestinian resistance is based on the fact that since 2006, when Hamas came to power, the resistance leadership has come to be considered “Islamist.”"

Can the two-state solution, which America opposed at the United Nations, lead to empowering the Palestinian people with their right to self-determination and resolving the Palestinian issue?

There are currently two ways out of the crisis that resulted from the establishment of Israel in 1948 and its current expansion, either to exit “according to the example of South Africa," [alsoo mentioned by the American thinker and Jewish historian, Norman Finkelstein] which implies that, whatever the institutional form, two states or one state, there will be a reconciliation between the political imagination, ambitions, and agendas of the Israeli and Palestinian parties. 

However, everything indicates that the Israeli side, more clearly, is doing its utmost to prevent the emergence of such a perspective, because Zionism, as an ideology and as adopted by the current ruling elite, and also by the majority of Netanyahu’s opponents, is a racist sectarian ideology, very similar to the ideology of ISIS, which does not It allows any form of coexistence.

Then there remains the other exit door, and it may be of the “Rhodesian” or “Algerian” type, meaning that it will force the departure of one of the two communities or strict control over it. This is the option that Israel has exercised with impunity since its establishment, as it has never sought peace, but only To the ground by all means, even illegal ones, and the Israeli leaders were blindly supported in this matter by their Western partners.

However, last October 7 launched a process that means that Israel may not be able to continue with impunity to take such shortcuts with regard to international law or basic humanitarian principles.

  

Current Events: What should the world think when a majority of the people in a country support a Genocidal regime?

Current Events: What should the world think when a majority of the people in a country support a Genocidal regime?

    Saturday, May 04, 2024   No comments

How should a nation whose majority support extremists be treated?

It depends.

If such a country is a non-Western nation-state, then that will make the entire country a terrorist country and genociding them by a “civilized” state will be acceptable.

If such a country is a “Western” nation-state, the will of the majority is sacred. That is what seems to be the implication of the extraordinary admission by head of the US State Department, Anthony Blinken.

US State Secretary Anthony Blinken said on 4 May that the genocidal actions undertaken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza are "a reflection of where a large majority of Israelis are in this moment.”

“This is a complicated government. It’s a balancing act when you have a coalition. And if you’re just looking at the politics of it, that’s something that he has to factor in,” Blinken said at an event in Arizona.

"What’s important to understand is that much of what [Netanyahu is] doing is not simply a reflection of his politics or his policies; it’s actually a reflection of where a large majority of Israelis are in this moment,” the top US diplomat said.

Last month, a survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute revealed that three-quarters of Jewish Israelis support Netanyahu's much-anticipated ground invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, where about 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering after being violently displaced from their homes.

Surveys conducted over recent months have shown a similar trend despite growing pressure to see Netanyahu removed from office.

In January, opinion polls showed that Israelis overwhelmingly agreed that “the best way” to obtain the release of captives held inside Gaza was “military pressure” against Hamas, falling in line with the same rhetoric Netanyahu and his war chief have been repeating daily since 7 October.

Polls have also shown a stern objection to delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, even if the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is “replaced.”

The problem of seeing a majority electing demonstrably authoritarian, supremacist bigots is the true test of the limits and flaws of democracy. In the past, when such processes happened in non-Western  nation-states, it is often blamed on corruption and processes being flawed. Turkey, for example, over 4 decades voted for a conservative party and a conservative leader. The West dismissed these elections, because they simply thought of all Turkish people as backward, incapable of embracing "true democracy". 

However, with rise of extremist politicians through democratic processes, the West is now facing a moment of truth about democracy. In the past, when democracy did not represent any problems at home, Western leaders used it abroad as a political instrument to intimidate and subjugate other nations.

Who is Alexander Dugin, who is described as Putin's brain, and whose daughter Daria was killed by Car Bomb in Moscow?

Who is Alexander Dugin, who is described as Putin's brain, and whose daughter Daria was killed by Car Bomb in Moscow?

    Monday, August 22, 2022   No comments

Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin is said to have great influence on Russian politicians including the current president, Vladimir Putin. His daughter killed by a car bomb. The Russian authorities announced the killing by detonating her car with an explosive device planted under the driver’s seat in a suburb of the capital, Moscow. Daria Dugin worked as a press secretary for her father, who is described as "Putin's brain", a nationalist and one of the most prominent theorists of the Kremlin's ideology who predicted the end of the era of Western liberalism.

To learn more about Dugin, we provide a summary of his ideas that he shared with Aljazeera network in an extended set of interviews (See interview1, and interview 2; Arabic) in which he talked about Russia, the West, Christianity, Islam, Chechnya, Sunnism, and other topics.

Russian identity and change

On the other hand, Dugin spoke to Al Jazeera about the Russian identity and the radical change that he said had affected it over the course of one century, as the country was an empire with its faith and perception, and after the Bolshevik Revolution, perceptions changed dramatically, and in 1991 the Russian identity changed again and Russia became part of The Western world, then Putin, changed identity again and Russia became a powerful country that defends its own conservative values, according to what the Russian philosopher says.

 

On Russian identity, "Putin's mind" says that his country is changing its position and "we are in a spiritual search for ourselves", and it is sensitive to changes.

 

However, Dugin confirms - in the first part of his meeting in the episode (14/11/2021) of the "The Interview" program - that Western tendency is still largely present within Russia, and there is a liberal elite and strong resistance to President Putin's reforms on the part of liberal intellectuals, and that This Western tendency hinders the special orientation of Russia.

 

He also believes that other civilizations have the right to rely on their own political teachings that are based on their own values, not on Western values.

 

He indicated in the context of his review of his identical vision with his president's on the Chechen issue, which he said Putin had found a solution for, as well as with regard to Georgia and Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimea in 2014.

 

Fourth political theory

The Russian thinker Alexander Dugin focused in the second part of his interview with the "The Interview" program on the fourth political theory, which he said is an anti-capitalist tendency, and talked about his vision of terrorism and its relations with Iran and Turkey.

 

Dugin described the fourth political theory as the theory of revolution and decolonization for Russian society, and it defends the originality of Russian civilization and human rights, but not according to Western values, which he said are not totalitarian and are unacceptable neither in Russia, nor in the Islamic world, nor in China.

 

Definition of terrorism

In the interview, Ali Al-Dhafiri's guest linked the issue of defining terrorism to the interests of states, and gave an example of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said that he supported Washington's position after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and in return was waiting for the US administration to classify those he called the Chechen separatists in the category of Terrorists, which did not happen, and the Russian thinker says that Putin understood at that time the meaning of geopolitical considerations.

 

In another context, Dugin - one of the most prominent political theorists in Russia - saw that Iran is an ally of Russia and is one of the opponents of globalization and American leadership, and that radical Sunni Islam in the Arab world had supported the American strategy in the MiddleEast, but the new generation of leaders - continues the speaker - In SaudiArabia, Qatar and Egypt, he is looking for a new approach to Arab Sunni Islam, and he believes that staying in the orbit of American policy is bad for the Islamic world.

 

He also talked about his ideas, and said that he is a supporter of Islamic traditional values ​​in Iran, but nevertheless he has strong relations with Turkey, noting in his touch on Russia's future that Russia is Putin and he determines everything in politics, to conclude his speech by saying that in his country "the law does not something and rule everything."

 

It is noteworthy that after Putin took power in Russia, a new phase began in Dugin's political activity when he moved from the radical opposition camp to the pro-power camp.

 

And the winner is: Assad

And the winner is: Assad

    Tuesday, August 22, 2017   No comments

The US is increasingly moving away from its anti-Assad course. The Syrian president appears increasingly confident, announcing that conditions will apply to countries wanting to rejig their relationship with Syria. 

  On Sunday, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad gave a speech in front of dozens of his country's diplomats. He came across as confident: Among other things, he declared that there would be no cooperation with countries "that do not clearly and definitively cut their ties to terrorism."

This dig was aimed at several states, including some Arab ones, especially on the Arabian Peninsula. It also refers to a number of European countries – and the United States. Assad accuses them of collaborating with "terrorists."

Assad has reason to be optimistic. He gave this speech three days after a jihadist drove into and killed 14 people in Barcelona, injuring more than 100. Attacks like these are a gift to the Syrian president: They help make him look like a potential partner to those who have, until now, opposed him. Hardly a week goes by the West without an IS-backed terror attack, Assad told the assembled diplomats, adding: "This fact has forced Western politicians to change their attitude" towards Syria.

...

It does seem that Assad is going to stay in power, at least for the time being. He has succeeded in presenting himself as a bulwark against jihadism. From his point of view, this portrayal makes absolute sense. But if the Sunnis should come to the conclusion that they were now facing an alliance of Shiites, Russia and the USA, this would probably once again fuel jihadism. The American think tanks warn that, if this should happen, the terrorism we are seeing now would be just the precursor to a subsequent, even more brutal expression. Source

'Islam is in a transformative process'

'Islam is in a transformative process'

    Thursday, August 10, 2017   No comments

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

Muslims feel conflicted about certain aspects of historical Islam, says the Islamic scholar Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im. How does the notion of Sharia fit within the idea of a secular state?

Sharia in a secular state -  isn't that a contradiction in terms?
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im: The question is: what does one mean by Sharia? People tend to think of the legal end of it, as if that is the whole principle of Sharia. But Sharia consists of the whole normative system of Islam founded in the Koran, the Sunna and the hadith, or tradition of the Prophet. So it is not possible - even in a secular state - to deny Muslims the right to turn to Sharia to answer questions such as how to pray or how to fast.   

Sharia cannot be enforced by the state anywhere. There is absolutely no possibility to enact Sharia as a law of the state whether it be in a so-called "Muslim majority country" or a tiny Muslim minority anywhere. The nature of Sharia defies codification. It is about the interpretation that people choose through their own conviction.

So what is Sharia for you?
Sharia provides moral guidance for Muslim individuals. State and religion should be clearly separated. For me, as a Muslim, I need the state to be secular so that I can practice Islam through conviction and choice. The need of the state to be secular derives from an Islamic point of view; it has nothing to do with the European Enlightenment. The state has nothing to do with my being a believer or an atheist.

If state and religion are to be clearly separated, what role can religion play in public discourse?

I make a distinction between the state and politics. The state has nothing to do with Islam, but politics is a field where religion is always relevant. You cannot keep religion out of politics. Just like the CDU [editor's note: Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats] in Germany believes that its political platform is inspired by Christianity, believers - whatever their religion - act politically out of their conviction as believers. Whether you ban Sharia from politics or not, Muslims will continue to act in ways that are consistent with their understanding of Sharia. You cannot prevent that possibility unless you disenfranchise Muslims. source...

#IslamicSocietiesReview: ISIL's cruelty as catalyst for positive social change in Syria and Iraq

#IslamicSocietiesReview: ISIL's cruelty as catalyst for positive social change in Syria and Iraq

    Thursday, May 12, 2016   No comments

They share little more than an enemy and struggle to communicate on the battlefield, but together two relatively obscure groups have opened up a new front against Islamic State militants in a remote corner of Iraq.

The unlikely alliance between an offshoot of a leftist Kurdish organization and an Arab tribal militia in northern Iraq is a measure of the extent to which Islamic State has upended the regional order.

Across Iraq and Syria, new groups have emerged where old powers have waned, competing to claim fragments of territory from Islamic State and complicating the outlook when they win.

"Chaos sometimes produces unexpected things," said the head of the Arab tribal force, Abdulkhaleq al-Jarba. "After Daesh (Islamic State), the political map of the region has changed. There is a new reality and we are part of it."

In Nineveh province, this "new reality" was born in 2014 when official security forces failed to defend the Sinjar area against the Sunni Islamic State militants who purged its Yazidi population.

A Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) came to the rescue, which won the gratitude of Yazidis, and another local franchise called the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) was set up.

The mainly Kurdish secular group, which includes Yazidis, controls a pocket of territory in Sinjar and recently formed an alliance with a Sunni Arab militia drawn from the powerful Shammar tribe.
source