Rebirth of an American racism

A YouTuber star, Adam Saleh, known for filming elaborate hoaxes was escorted off a Delta flight (an Ameican Airline) after he claimed that other passengers complained and demanded him off the aircraft when they heard him speaking in Arabic. The point to ponder on would be: would the reaction of Delta Airlines and the 20 individuals (passengers) be the same against the Arabic language back in 1975? It is pertinent to be watchful to the historic track of hate evolution and the creation of ‘enemy’ in the world. It’s a recent phenomenon that Arabic, Asian Muslims and Muslims, in fact set alarms in the West and are perceived as enemies of the world. Four decades prior, the same threat and enemies were some other entities. The question remains: who is fostering it? The economy, politics, industrial-military complex or what else?

Global discourse is in transitions — expanding democracy, rhetoric shift, emerging trends, automation and rapid technological connections, so are the humans highlighted on the basis of identities (ethnic, religious and geographical). One of the net results is racism, which has its effects and impacts, some are immediate and others long term. Racism is a global phenomenon, internal and external. It carries varied manifestations inter-religion, intra-religion, ethnic, geographical, colour and creed, etc., that can be seen in recent events occuring in different parts of the world.

Incidents like Adam Saleh and Delta Airlines is not a one-time episode. It determines a mindset of society and people who let it happen. If 20 individuals complain against another passenger on the basis of his language, that’s a personal act but the response of the flight crew of Delta Airlines was an organisational decision. If in 2016, countries like the US are exhibiting “Trumpism” through such happenings, then what do we expect from racist elements within Third World countries like Pakistan. It creates a reactionary divide which will not lead to any peaceful solution. There are countless moderate Muslims who condemn extremism and terrorism occurring anywhere in the world. The reaction and response of so many white Americans on social media twitter #boycottdelta #racism is one of the positive examples.

Being a peace activist I don’t want to draw a line between Muslims and non-Muslims in Pakistan — rather keep it Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians as separate religious identities with all due rights; respected equally. But when The Washington Post twitter mentions naming Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi (recently born son of famous Indian cinema actors Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan) after “brutal Islamic conqueror”, it is perturbing. A brutal can be Muslim but not Islamic — same as Donald Trump (an American Christian), who uttered racist remarks against minorities and Muslims during his electoral campaign. In my opinion, no religion is racist. If a Latino speaks Spanish or a Jew speaks Hebrew is appropriate and speaking Arabic, Pashto or other Asian languages is threatening — then where are we at in this world?

The ultimate objective of humans is a peaceful globe not a divided world. There are numerous moderate pro-peace Muslims and a number of Western racists. We cannot generalise extremism with all Muslims — in the same way as we cannot associate peace with all Westerns. Let sanity prevail and not divide the world into blocks of hatred, harbouring contempt against one other using religious identities and racial complexes. More importantly, it is imperative to understand and comprehend the motives if mighty actors, factors and lobbies who determine global negative discourse and label people as “Islamic terrorists”, “non-Muslims”, “Muslim extremists”, “Hindu fundamentalists”, “Christian fascists”, “Jews conspiring”, etc.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2016.

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