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The Voice of Dissent Denied
By Hwaa Irfan
05/11/2001
Relegate freedom of speech to the '60s, when the decade of student protest in the West was synonymous with demonstrating for an alternative vision. Protesters under no allegiance other than the right to question carried banners bearing their universities' name and crest and protested for what they believed in. The dissent of the people worked because there were two clear sides: friend or enemy, progress or stagnation, socialism or capitalism and September 11 bore witness to all of this (Barker, p.25). However, the torchbearers have changed. Capitalism has succeeded through the earthly desires of the people. The lines have become blurred and those who speak out are the victims, and those who are not the victims have become "the baddies".
Now professors at al-Azhar, Ain Shams and Alexandria universities in Egypt, join the student protesters. Not televised, their voices are muted as they demand the boycott of British, Israeli and U.S. products (Allam, p.1). Blacked out from the media, their voices fall on deaf ears. They are the voices of the East.
Playing a two-handed game, Prime Minister Tony Blair softens the voices of the East in Britain by steamrolling new legislation through - the details of which are still to be hammered out. The Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism (FAIR), in response, stated, "Proposals widening the laws on incitement to include religious hatred, and the consideration of the creation of a new category of offences to deal with the religious hatred, are broadly welcomed."
During the time of the Prophet Mohammed (saw), Islam championed against all forms of oppression without denying the rights of the enemy. But here we must be wary of misplaced optimism. Experience has shown since the inception of the race laws in 1986 in England that only 45 prosecutions have been brought to justice regarding discrimination against ethnic minorities. In other words, the burden of proof is on the victim. The civil rights group, Liberty, argues that, "We believe that protecting people from attack is first about clear political leadership, setting the public tone and effective policy. There are already plenty of laws covering incitement to violence, assault and public order, but the trouble is that the police are not using them…" The Muslim Lawyers Committee states, "The test is how evenly they are enforced. The last thing we want is a situation like the 'sus' laws, which also, on the face of it, applied to everybody, but in many areas were used mainly against blacks" (Bodi, p.9).
Yes we must be careful indeed, for whilst we may be comforted by such legal considerations, in Parliament the voice of dissent is being muted. Prime Minister Blair attempted and failed to avert a backlash amongst his own Labor ministers on October 22 from growing critics of the "war against terrorism". Minister Paul Marsden and 13 others signed a Commons motion calling for a halt to the military strikes, as other members voiced fears of dangerous consequences from the Middle East. Marsden revealed that Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong heavily reprimanded him because he called for a free vote on the military action on Afghanistan. "I will not be silenced. I know others within the party will not be silenced either…" he stated. Prime Minister Blair stated that he had no problems with free expression but indirectly supported the reprimand of Marsden by saying that he had no problems with the Chief Whip handling such business, as this was her affair (Morris, p.4).
So democracy is circumstantial, denying sections of the public representation simply because allowing the free flow of information and dissent does not serve the political parties well. Colin Powell has attempted to exert considerable pressure on the Qatari based
Al-Jazeera network in order to "tone" down the presentation of Osama bin Laden's messages. "Thanks to the White House and its high-level courtiers in the media, we Americans - of those of us without the proper hardware - are now the only people in the whole developed world who can't actually hear what our enemy is saying about us. That's an odd distinction considering we are also his main targets," writes Mark Miller, professor of media studies at New York University. "So honestly infuriating is that sight, moreover, that it serves the useful propaganda purpose of convincing those viewers who might be skeptical about bin Laden's perfidy if they were merely told about it by the U.S. government" (Miller, p.1, 2).
Guilty or innocent, the path to the truth has been circumvented. Effectively it has damaged lives, the dignity and the aspirations of many Muslims - including some of the 18 people alleged to be the hijackers of the U.S. planes - some of whom just happen to still be alive, as was confirmed by CNN and
Time magazine. Adnan Bukhari, one of the people wrongly broadcast as being one of the terrorists, forced CNN to issue a correction on September 13. But what of the Arabs being wrongly accused because the seat numbers assumed to be of the highjackers on flight 11 of American Airlines did not match those of the Arabs on the flight (Bangash, p.3, 4)? What of their livelihoods? They have forever been decimated as well.
The battle has been waged, but the price is high. "If we allow the government and media to keep us all in nervous ignorance, American democracy will not prevail against the terrorists; it will have been destroyed regardless of the outcome of this latest war" (Miller, p.2).
Sources:
Allam, Rana. "Anger Rises as Bomb Drops." 10/25/01. Al-Ahram Weekly Online. 10/28/01.
Bangash, Zafar. "Hundreds Dying as U.S. Missiles and Bombs Hit Afghan Cities and Villages." Crescent International. 10/16/01. Musimedia.com. 1-5. 10/15/01.
Barker, Rodney. "Where Have All the Student Protests Gone?" Guardian Weekly. 165:16(2001) 25.
Bodi, Faisal. "Who Are We Trying to Protect?" Independent. 4, 685 (2001) 9.
MacIntyre, Donald. "Believe It or Not, Dissent Can Be Healthy & Patriotic." Independent. 4,685(2001) 3
Miller, Mark C. "Squelching the News in Democracy's Name." 10/24/01. Exclusives. Motherjones.com. 10/28/01.
Morris, Nigel. "Blair Insists MPs Are Free to Criticize Policy." Independent. 4, 685 (2001) 4.
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