Tolerating
Intolerance
By Remi Kanazi
23 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Pope
Benedict XVI is not having a good week and yet doesn't seem to mind.
Upsetting one out of every five people living today may be of no concern
for the His Holiness—made evident by his half-hearted, "sorry
my infallible words offended you" apology—but one can surely
understand why some Muslims took offense to his recent speech. Were
his comments his own words—maybe not—but it doesn't take
a scholar to comprehend the inappropriateness in referencing 14th century
Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, who proclaimed, "Show
me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find
things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword
the faith he preached." Setting aside Christian Crusade amnesia,
it's like quoting Bin Laden at ground zero on the five year anniversary
of 9/11. Unless you're quoting him to call him crazy, don't expect applause
from the audience.
Unlike the US press, the
British press, specifically the Guardian, has been more forthcoming
about the Pope's comments. John Freedland wrote in the Guardian on September
19, "This is what makes the Pope's defenders so disingenuous when
they insist that he was merely engaged in a 'scholarly consideration
of the relationship between reason and faith'. He is not a lecturer
at divinity school. He is the head of a global institution with more
than a billion followers…When he digs out a 700-year-old sentence
that could not be more damning of Islam…he has to know there will
be consequences."
The reaction to the Pope's
comments from some in the Muslim world has been disturbing to say the
least. Not because of the mainstream line of thought—which asserts
that Muslims are intolerant and reactionary—rather the events
that spark outrage in the Muslim world are not the only events that
should be sparking outrage.
Case in point: the protests
and boycotts following the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in February.
Physical violence aside, protests and boycotts against European hypocrisy
and double standards should be encouraged. Nevertheless, the people
of the Middle East should be taking to the streets every day, to protest
the destruction of Lebanon, Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, the general
policy of the West, the ineffectiveness of the UN, the complicity of
the EU, the corruption of their own leaders, and the abject poverty
consuming many of their societies due to America's fight for oil.
Attacks on churches in the
West Bank should be condemned by those of all faiths and sects. Furthermore,
it should be used an example of what not to do when offended by a Pope
that has done nothing for suffering Palestinian Christians—especially
at a time when Christians and Muslims should be uniting (as many have)
against a brutal Israeli occupation that dominates every facet of their
life. One does have to be weary of who these "unknown groups"
attacking the churches are, just as one had to be weary of the non-nationalist
group that sprung up in Gaza and kidnapped the two Fox news journalists.
Those seeking unrest—mainly out of favor Fatah factions—will
prey upon incidents like this (taking on a transparent cover) and use
the Pope as an excuse. Yet, don't hold your breath for a follow up on
the church attacks on CNN or Yahoo, informing Americans that Hamas and
Fatah both forcefully condemned the attacks and, as Khalid Amayreh reported,
"Sheikh Muhammed Hussein, the highest-ranking Muslim clergyman
in East Jerusalem described the bombing as 'immoral, unethical and injurious
to Palestinian unity.'"
Forget the clash of civilizations.
The West is systematically destroying half the countries in the Middle
East and has its eye on a couple more. While some Middle East leaders
benefit from the anger of the world's Muslim population, namely Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Muslims have the right to be infuriated
by the Western world's collective effort to control the Middle East
by force—this includes the policy pushed forth by the Pope. The
reactions to the events occurring today are perpetuated by US President
George Bush's messianic worldview, the hegemonic philosophy of his cabinet,
the acquiescence of Congress and the blindness of the US population
in a post-9/11 world.
So next time you Catholics
drop money into that collection plate, you should wonder where your
money is going. It seems it is filling the same coffers and feeding
the same ideologies of an intransigent Bush administration. If this
is the case, maybe people should be asking the Pope for tolerance, rather
than the Muslim world.
Remi Kanazi is the primary writer for the political
website www.PoeticInjustice.net
He is the editor of the forthcoming book of poetry, Poets for Palestine,
for more information go to Poetic Injustice. He lives in New York City
as a Palestinian American writer, poet and performer and can reached
via email at [email protected]