by TABISH KHAIR
The video compiles shocking images used in the Islamic State’s own propaganda footage in recent weeks, including this one of prisoners being killed and crucified PHOTO/Daily Mail
There was the usual bandying around of accusations after the latest Islamist carnage in Paris on the night of 13 November 2015, when terrorists wreaked havoc in the city, killing around 130 innocent people, mostly left-leaning music lovers who traditionally stand up for refugees. Fingers of accusation were pointed at refugees and immigrants in some European quarters (though there were at least as many expressions of solidarity).
Some sweeping Islamophobic generalisations were inevitably made about Muslims, (in)tolerance and (un)democracy, which must be sweet music to the ears of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as they share an identical understanding of Islam. Valid points were taken by lazy politicians on the right and fashioned into a club to clout Muslims, immigrants, multiculturalism, etc.
The Half-Truth
But these are not my concern in this article: I have written about these matters in the past, and there are (thankfully!) many Europeans and Americans who regularly counter such xenophobic libel.
I am more concerned with some well-meaning answers, which have now been offered so often that they have become lame excuses. Take this Facebook posting, widely circulated over the next few days:
People killed in Paris: 120. People killed in Syria: 1,15,000. People killed in Afghanistan: 7,46,976. People killed in Pakistan: 95,000 since 9/11. People killed in Iraq: US killed half a million innocent people…
This was a well-meaning, factual posting; as far as I could see, it had been put out (at least in the earliest rendition I discovered) by a (white) American critic of American policies, and it included the heart-rending plea: “Don’t mistake national or political problems for religious. Muslims have nothing to do with any mass killing or terrorism. Extremists do.”
I could also see that it had been circulated by Muslim friends and relatives—who are staunch critics of Islamist terror and even of Islamic fundamentalism. But I found it disturbing that Muslims, even those who critique ISIS—actually I do not know any Muslim who supports ISIS—unthinkingly circulate a posting like this. If an American posts these facts, he is issuing a valid critique of United States’ (US) foreign policies and a defence of Muslims at the same time. But when a Muslim reposts it, he might be sending out another signal, inadvertently.
Because the fact remains that all those tens of thousands listed as killed in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan (we can add to the list)—as against a “paltry” 120 in Paris—were not mostly killed by the US or even by Western nations. Less than a 10th of the casualties in all these nations—except Afghanistan—may be attributed to direct US or European action. All the rest have been killed by other, yes, Muslims. A lot of them have been killed by various Islamist groups. To jam all these numbers together and shove them in an envelope under the door of the White House seems to be a mistake—or dishonest.
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(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)