Given the facts about public opinion, it means what’s needed is something not very radical. Let’s become as democratic as say…Brazil. I mean their last election was not between two rich kids who went to the same elite university and joined the same secret society where they’re trained to be members of the upper class and they can get into politics because they have rich families with a lot of connections. I mean people were actually able to elect a president from their own ranks. …They could do it because it’s a functioning democratic society. I mean there were tremendous obstacles, repressive state, huge concentration of wealth, much worse obstacles than we have. But they have mass popular movements. They have actual political parties, which we don’t have. There’s nothing to stop us from doing that. I mean we have a legacy of freedom which is unparalleled. It’s been won by struggle over centuries, it was never given, and you can use it, or you can abandon it. It’s a choice. –Chomsky, 2005
This post was inspired by those Muslims and Arabs who believe that voting is “haram” or that it won’t change anything so why bother. I know that more needs to be done in the way of addressing the many inequalities that exist in American society, but I don’t think it is far-stretched or unreasonable to admit to the historic nature of this election, and the positive implications it has for our democracy. No matter which party wins, either one will bring a minority into power. Yet, there are those in our community who never fail to infect the rest of us with their pessimism and deep cynicism. Even many secular Arabs like to point to the treatment of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as proof that this system should be abandoned altogether. It is a hopeless view of American politics and whether their calls are true or not, at the end of the day they have accomplished nothing more than to paralyze many and to keep the idea going that there’s a coordinated and well organized attempt to keep us permanently disenfranchised. But this is just not true. Not even their intellectual messiah, Noam Chomsky, believes that. Chomsky believes that disenfranchisement in general stems from a “willing subordination to power.” Key word being willing. And neither did the much praised militant hero Malcolm X believe that it was futile to get involved. He preached that we’ve got to do more than just sit at the table before we can call ourselves true Americans.
It’s sad and abhorrent that so many Muslims not only choose to not exercise their right to vote, but will try and convince others not to participate either. I know the government has done its part to make many of us feel like rejected cynics, but how will altogether removing ourselves from the equation help? Ayatollah Sistani, a well respected religious scholar, was recently asked what his position was with regards to participating in a non-Muslim country. I chose this man’s statement not because of my own personal beliefs but simply because he hits the nail on the head:
At times the higher interests of the Muslims in non-Muslim countries demand that Muslims seek membership of political parties, enter parliaments, and representative assemblies. In such cases, it is permissible for Muslims to engage in such activities as much as is demanded by the interest [of the Muslim community] that must be identified by consulting the trustworthy experts.
As citizens of a democracy, there is nothing to hold us back from impacting change other than ignorance. It is the quality of the media that defines the strength of any nation’s democracy, and true, our media is often biased. Sources of information that are accessed by most Americans have helped to fuel war, fear, and hate. But that’s not to say that the problem is out of our hands. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to indoctrinate people with propaganda and to suppress information. Although corporate media used to be the cultural gatekeeper, the advent of the internet has changed the rules of the game. It has killed their monopoly over information, severely damaging print media and forcing broadcast media to reevaluate its programming and to be more inclusive. For example, I learned about the Dunkin Donuts decision to pull down the Rachel Ray Ad through a news show, in which the host was allowed to express how ludicrous and bigoted he thought the decision was. Lou Dobbs is holding a special “Independent Convention” all week on CNN and one of the topics he will be addressing is the dangerous influence of lobbies. And there are many other similar instances of mainstream media covering issues once considered to be on the fringe of legitimate public discourse.
Our political landscape is changing, thanks to the web. People are becoming increasingly empowered because they are better informed. As a result of having greater access to information, civic awareness and participation has dramatically increased. Obama built up a huge base early on in his candidacy primarily because of the campaign he waged on the web. His candidacy alone has brought four million new voters to the Democratic party. Sarah Palin wouldn’t be on the map today had it not been for a college blogger. And Ron Paul, who refers to the internet as the “strong political equalizer,” held a counter-convention this past Tuesday that drew about 15,000 supporters from across the country. The New York Times did a piece in 2007 describing what the internet has meant for Ron Paul’s candidacy:
If his campaign had taken place in the pre-Internet era, it might have gone the way of his 1988 Libertarian campaign for president, as a footnote to history… .How much the Paul campaign had snowballed on the Internet became evident…when supporters independent of the campaign raised $4 million online…
Many Muslims also lack any nuance when it comes to their approach to politics. So they will deride Obama because he isn’t pro-Palestinian enough, or because he won’t be seen in a photo with women in hijab. But they forget that it took 9-11 to draw our community out of its shell and to force it to become more engaged. We are still new to the game and need to work on building a presence and establishing coalitions with other communities. Meanwhile we can’t even get enough of us to go out and take a simple kuffiyeh photo (of course I was going to bring that up). But that’s the sort of behavior I’ve grown accustomed to when it comes to my community. We love to complain and do nothing.
I’m starting to think that the adamant resistance displayed by many towards the political process comes from something more. Based on my interactions with the Muslim and Arab communities, there is no doubt in my mind that there are far too many of us who are in love with our sense of victimization. A dangerous pitfall for any minority to fall into, I’m really starting to believe that we can’t define ourselves without it– the intellectual nihilism, the crippling cynicism, conspiracy theories that serve to let us off the hook, this attitude that the whole world is plotting against us, and that we are special and unique in our suffering and humiliation. Tragic histories have shape our psyche and we cling to these markers so tightly that it has become second nature to despair and to dismiss our own agency. We would much rather remain in some corner embracing our bleeding hearts.
Islam is not a faith of defeatism, it isn’t defined solely by a series of rituals– we do not worship God as a means of doing good, we do good as a means of worshiping God. Every mu’min is charged with social obligations and it’s only when we have run out of options that we are told to hate the unjust with our hearts. There can be no room in such a faith for indifference or despair. To the self-cripples among us, my advice to you is earn the right to bitch first and then complain if you’re not being represented properly. But if you’re already so convinced as a Muslim that the world is conspiring against you, than go dig yourself a hole and wait for some messiah to come and make the world right. The faith I follow tells believers to look for any means to make a difference in their environment and above all else, it stresses the need to get over ourselves. Like Chomsky says, it’s a choice.
