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Let the ash of Ground
Zero light up over the Middle East
Email: sabah1054@yahoo.co.uk
Nov 20, 2005
The Kurds of today are,
according to
Dr.
Mehrdad R. Izady,
the descendants of a people who have been located in their
mountain terrain since the end of the last Ice Age. They can genuinely
claim to be the founders of settler farming in that land. Until recently
the Kurdish villager was autonomous and self sufficient which provided
them with all their social and economic needs. Ancient historians tell us
that the villages and cities of Kurdistan were based on a logical
structure with early settlers using the basic moral concepts of good and
evil to regulate conduct. This evidence is paradoxical when it is
considered that the Kurds have been arrogantly labeled "Tribal Hill
People" by colonisers who have on that basis taken decisions to divide
them like a badly cut cake. The distorted moral values of these colonial
judgments were designed to contain and subjugate. However this has not
prevented the Kurds from continuing to identify themselves as Kurds,
resisting enforced assimilation and attempts to make them Iraqi, Iranian,
Turkish or Syrian or remove them from their lands. The strength of
Kurdish culture, language and traditions has enabled the Kurds to
withstand the brutality of ignorant aggressors and remain true to
themselves despite the artificial borders that have separated them for the
last 80 years. The superpowers, industrial nations and UN have joined
Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria in their reluctance to recognize past wrong
doing and this ongoing situation has left the Kurds in a state of
perpetual limbo. According to W.A. and E.T.A Wigram, who wrote in the
early years of the 20th century, Kurdistan was the cradle of
mankind, yet in the 21st century the Kurds are still struggling
to be recognized as the rightful owners and occupiers of land which has
been theirs for many thousands of years.
The “Safe Haven”
settlement sponsored by the USA and the UK from 1991-2003 gave the Kurds
the opportunity to demonstrate their potential. During this period
Kurdish culture was stimulated by the adoption of the concept of free
speech along with attempts made to build institutions that were more or
less comparable the first modern European institutions of the early 19th
century. This can be compared with the rejection of European values by the
Arabs of Central and Southern Iraq. Since the fall of Saddam, Iraqi
Arabs, Shias and Sunnis alike, have been calling for an Islamic state
based on their version of Sharia Law. From this turn of events, the
Kurdish cultural model seems to demonstrate a far more practical and
appealing solution to the Middle Eastern dilemma which the West should pay
greater attention to if they want to set up a foundation for a lasting
solution.
If we look
to the ruins of ancient cities in Kurdistan, China, India, Egypt and
Greece they tell us stories of how these communities tried to interpret
and define life around them. Most cultural anthropologists agree that in
general tribal relationships were based on egalitarian confederations,
acceptance and tolerance towards different beliefs. These contrasts with
much of today's dogmatic religious ideologies which can only attempt to
force their rigid doctrines on others. Human beings, by their very
nature, seek to achieve a rational balance. The various beliefs present
among Kurdish villagers have a natural diversity of cultural values more
fundamental than any sick religious ideology. An outsider would be
surprised to see how the Muslim, the neighboring Christian and the so
called “devil worshippers”, the Yezidis, all hold a similar Kurdish
culture and manage to live peacefully side by side in Kurdistan. Tribal
relationships and egalitarian culture were not a social experiment, but a
result of a society drawing on and following the rhythms of its
surrounding natural environment and human condition. In Kurdish villages,
disputes about access to water or a failed marriage were discussed by both
men and women, at the mosque and in the home respectively, with a solution
reached by indirect consensus. This is similar to the attitudes of past
civilizations, including the Greeks, but due to historical wars it was not
recorded and lost under the turmoil of the invaders footsteps.
The Greek language as a
historical vehicle recorded the idea which still carries many concepts
such as “civic” meaning city, “dynamic” meaning power. When these are
combined and an interpretation is attempted the underlying meaning arrived
at is “city-state” or self-government. The state can be viewed as being
like the mind, regulating the human body. In the past this is how humans
began to recognize natural forms of governing. One can still get a sense
of this in traditional Kurdish villages devoid of a police station but
which self govern almost naturally as the relationship between individuals
is based on accountability. Although the majority of the Kurds came to
adopt Islam as their faith, where an individual's accountability is first
and foremost to God, they did not take this as absolute and instead
followed the doctrines according to their own cultural adaptation. Islamic
ideology and colonization share a common basis in that neither asks for
accountability, colonizers do not see themselves as accountable to their
colony while Islamic ideology asks for submission. Saddam's carrot and
stick policies both ideologically and in their pragmatic background were a
continuity of the past and the dictated divisions of colonizers. This
resulted in turning the majority of the Iraqi people into passive
followers and this process has yet to be reversed.
Cities in the past were
built on the concept of the balance of power. A careful observer of past
civilizations will observe how we have evolved. H.C. Baldry indicated in
his findings that in ancient culture and society, decision-making was not
done by a remote body, but by a mass meeting in the heart of the city
which all citizens could attend. The rituals structuring these events
were in the hands of the priests, but final decision making was made by
the ordinary citizen. With time, in many states, power has been seized by
the Priests and Mullahs and still in Iraq power is concentrated in the
hands of the few.
Let us assume now, East
and West have met at a point of unbalanced power in Iraq. Western
civilization in general is the outcome of Athenian and Christian
philosophies. In contrast, Iraq is the product of Islam and the influence
of the civilizations of the Arabian Peninsula. As a reference point, we
can consider ‘Athens and Baghdad’ as historical representations of these
two differing civilizations. Both cities probably grew out of human
necessity, an outcome of tribal settlements and commercial activities in
close proximity to natural resources. When resources were not available,
they were obtained via barter and trading with neighboring tribes leading
to commerce and exchange of goods and services. These activities required
communication and thus the development of a common language and monetary
system, resulting in the further development of ideas. Eventually, a code
of conduct as well as a method of enforcement was developed in settling
disputes and furthering the growth of the entire market place. Hence,
civilizations progressed from an intellectual recognition of the
commonality of need.
Baghdad like Athens is
an ancient city and both made an impact on scientific discoveries and
creative ideas. However the sentencing to death of two well-known
moralist philosophers, Socrates in 399 BC by Athens, and Hallaj by the
Abbasid Caliphate in 922 AD, heralded the gradual stagnation and fall of
both civilizations as they lost their position as producers of creative
thought. There are marked differences in the two death sentences.
Socrates drank hemlock surrounded by friends while Hallaj was brutally
butchered. First, his hands were cut off one by one, then his legs,
followed finally with beheading. The Saudis still continue this ancient
practice of cutting off hands. Iran maintains the practice of public
flogging while Turkey secretly executes opponents before disposing of
their bodies in the countryside. The industrialized states continue to
hypocritically close their eyes these practices by their allies.
Understanding history
can help find a solution to the weakness of civilizations and the way the
public generally reacts to the war against terror. Islamic ideology
reached a turning point when Baghdad took the leading role and helped to
reinterpret the faith on a wider base. Under a liberal minded Caliphate,
Haron Al Rashid, Baghdad functioned as the cultural and commercial capital
of the world. Both Athens and Baghdad, during their periods of expansion,
offered great ideas to mankind by expanding civilizations from a local to
a more humanistic perspective. Baghdad was built around 700 AD by the
Abbasids. The creativeness of the Abbasid dynasty was the outcome of the
destruction of the Sassanian, Byzantine and Ummayad Empires. Each empire
had their own particular civil systems and were an outcome of the merging
of various earlier cultures, Indian, Aramaic, Greek, Persian, Jewish,
Kurd, Armenian, Azeri and Arab. They held their own world views and
belief systems incorporating such diverse faiths as Magi, Zoroaster,
Judaism, Mazda, Christianity, and Islam. Baghdad was the crossroads where
they all finally came together under the leadership of the Abbasids. The
social and spiritual structures of the Sassanian, Byzantine and Ummayad
Empires enabled them to reach a compromise giving vitality to the Abbasid
dynasty during the first 300 hundred years. The Abbasids were their
antithesis in terms of creativity because of corruption and the gap
between people and power in Rome, Tehran, and Damascus. The public
readily accepted the new Pluralist ideas of the Abbasids and this was
possibly the deciding factor in the fall of the other three empires.
Compromise created a
harmonious life in Baghdad. Peace and justice reflected the synchronized
creative ideas of that era and these concepts were incorporated in its
very name. ‘Bagh’ and ‘dad’ which literally mean ‘garden’ and ‘just’ and
may be translated as ‘the garden of justice’ or ‘the city of peace’. In
addition, the allegory behind the stories of ‘A Thousand and One Nights’,
which were gathered and written down during the era of Huron Al Rashid in
Baghdad around 750 AD, contain a moral narrative of how a just society
should be established and how the ruler as well as the public should
conduct themselves. In 798 AD, Adu Yusuf, an adviser to Caliph Harun Al-Rahhid
said in a letter to him: ‘Shepherds of men must settle with their Master,
as a shepherd must settle with his; therefore establish the right in what
God has set you over and entrusted you with for an hour’.
The ongoing
maltreatment of individuals by Eastern states may be explained in the
context of culture and ideological belief along with the industrialized
nations forcing change of the human condition. Islam as an ideology
originated in Saudi Arabia around 600 AD. Following the occupation of
Egypt, Omar Bin Katab, the second Islamic Caliph and deputy of Mohammed
who succeeded after his death, ordered the burning of the library in
Alexandria. His motive was the only literature needed was the Qu’ran and
still today powerful Islamic states follow this line of thought. Now
neither Islamic nor Western states will openly argue against the
simplicity of religious ideology because of economic reasons. This
attitude of silence towards history is one factor which has sown the seed
for fanatical ideas to grow. Modern day Islamists continue to use this
uncompromising attitude to uphold their power and justify their actions.
Islamic terror is a natural part of that doctrine while the hypocritical
use of East versus West gives an alternative motivation and accountability
for their actions.
Now the word Baghdad is
synonymous with chaos and destruction because a dictator was allowed by
the West to exercise power and use history to motivate his action. Saddam
gained power with the help of the West who subsequently took his power and
are now in the position to supervise his trial. There are various charges
that can be made against Saddam: the dehumanization of 22 million Iraqis,
including his supporters and himself; the Kurdish genocide; the
destruction of the Marsh Arabs land and culture; the wars against Iran and
Kuwait; environmental destruction and misuse of Iraq’s natural resources.
As Saddam was the head of the Arabic States should we at this point ask
them to remain silent even after the discovery of 220 mass graves?
Baghdad could be the
historical setting for the settling of ideological differences between
Muslim and Christian, East and West only if the East is given an equal
voice. Since the fall of Saddam, the issue of justice has also become an
important hope for the Kurds. Martin Luther King said “An injustice
anywhere is an injustice everywhere." The case of Saddam may provoke
further divisions between the East and West's understanding unless the
powers recognize the need to tread carefully. The legacy of the colonial
era and the reluctance of Islam to evolve has enabled many despots like
Saddam the freedom to kill as they wish. The lack of an Islamic
reformation and the endless cycle of religious conflict has led people to
lose faith in the notion of finding a long-lasting solution to the complex
Middle East dilemma. In the meantime, radical groups continue to take
advantage of the political vacuum. The United States as a superpower and
the United Kingdom as the mastermind of colonialism are again confronted
with issues arising from their past decisions and actions. They should
clarify how Saddam obtained power and chemical weapons. With the mass
graves of Kurds and Shi’ites common knowledge the left also needs to
question its ideology instead of seeking scapegoats.
The occupation of Iraq
has laid bare the differences between civilizations, religious beliefs and
the imbalance of power between large and small nation states. All of these
questions have international implications. The background of colonialism,
along with exposure to the politics of the Cold War era, have caused an
accumulation of resentment among the people of the Middle East and a
mistrust of the West. Nostalgia for the past, weak political governance
of each state in the region, failure and humiliation have triggered
hatred. These facts have been accepted by British politicians with Tony
Blair recognizing that there has been "80 years of Western intervention
into predominantly Arab lands because of a Western need for oil. We've
propped up unsavory governments, we've overthrown ones that we didn't
consider sympathetic,". The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, echoes this
with "you have been under foreign occupation, and denied the right to
vote, denied the right to run your own affairs, often denied the right to
work, for three generations, I suspect if it had happened here in England,
we would have produced a lot of suicide bombers ourselves,". In the
Middle East millions of people still continue to be deprived of their
natural cultural identity and economic development, which has a bearing on
the issue of instability in the world.
The super powers acted
rightly to remove Saddam from power, but to restore civil society, they
need to recognize their past and ongoing injustices in the region. It is
often stated that the past is past, however, the desires and the
grievances of the Middle Eastern people needs to be addressed as openly as
possible. This will be a call for total participation rather than outside
forces continuing to rely on corrupt individuals in the region to dictate
law. The case of Saddam is a golden opportunity for both Western powers
and Middle Eastern states who want to make history rather than just live
by it. Washington and London are in a position to act justly if this was
their intention with the Iraq war. Firstly they should set up a plan to
restore cultural identity for each of the ethnic and religious groups in
Iraq and divide the country on these lines. Rule of law should be
established and provision made for equality and freedom of expression in
order to stop corruption. Iraqi refugees in the West need to be called to
take part in the decision making process. Taking steps in these directions
would end the growth of extremist ideas and Iraq can become a model for
understanding and dialogue between Eastern and Western beliefs and values.
In the end, the reconciliation process between Islamic, Christian, Jewish
and Pagan believers needs modern interpretations. This is extremely
important for world development. Let Saddam’s trial be a platform for the
errors of the past to be exposed and to allow inquiring minds within the
Middle East to open up and recognize the injustice depriving 40 million
Kurds of their identity. If the trial of Saddam is handled properly, with
a transparent, public process and no restrictions on what can be revealed,
the trial could serve as a foundation for lasting justice to be restored
in the Middle East. |
