Conflict in Gaza: Democracy’s moral recession

Last updated on: January 4, 2009 at 6:00 pm by Guest Contributor

Conflict in Gaza: Democracy’s moral recession 2009-01-04T18:00:19-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Get out the vote

I have, for years, been a strong advocate of the democracy, primarily inspired by my experience with American freedoms. As a Muslim who speaks his mind and asks critical questions, I am routinely threatened and maligned by those, who unable to cope with my reason and critique, seek to silence me. American democracy gave me the protection and the opportunity to live life as God intended humans to – as thinking, reflecting and expressive beings.

I helped form an organization to promote democracy in the Muslim world and wrote a book making the argument that democracy was essential for good Islamic governance. However in the past few years, democracy has repeatedly let advocates like me down. Let me give you a few examples.

Tony Blair, George Bush and Dick Cheney invaded a country and caused the death and destruction in the face of opposition by millions of their own citizens. The invasion of Iraq was a grotesque war crime the democracy could not prevent. Over a million Iraqis died as a direct consequence of the War. Today many thousands of children would be alive, many thousands of families would be intact, and we would not have a quarter million homeless refugees strewn over three continents, if the US and UK – both democracies – had not invaded Iraq. Iraqis have suffered in many ways.

Today thanks to our “democracy promotion” there are hundreds of Iraqi women forced into prostitution to just feed their children. They surely have been liberated. Now they meet “new people” on a daily basis for $8 a day!

Laws have been passed in Britain and the US which make a mockery of the idea of freedom. Discourses have been advanced that have distorted the very idea of morality. Leaders who have repeatedly lied to their own people have been repeatedly elected to office. Killing civilians by the hundreds, torturing people, kidnapping, bribing have become the standard operating procedures of democracies. Democracies are operating as mafias and behaving just as brutally.

Today citizens of democracies cannot even distinguish between a war criminal, a thug, a mass murderer and a statesman. In India, Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, orchestrated genocide of minorities in 2002. The state machinery worked with thugs to kill over 2000 people, destroyed thousands of businesses and rendered over a hundred thousand homeless. He was condemned worldwide by human rights organizations but in the world’s biggest democracy — he was reelected to power. In fact an Indian-American, Sonal Shah, who was closely associated with him and his group, is on President-elect Obama’s transition team.

Apparently, democracies today have no problem with leaders with bloody hands. This moral decline of democracies is the direct consequence of the war on terror. Citizens have been told that the enemy is so evil that any evil means used to battle the enemy is justified. The egregious acts of terror that continue, accompanied by the global media which magnify and dramatize them, have blunted the moral sensibilities of citizens to the point that they not only accept whatever their governments do but also applaud them for it.

This week, the Holy land saw some of the most deadly of days in its history, as Israel massacred over 450 Palestinians in Gaza. Palestinians have not experienced anything like this since 1948 when two Jewish terrorist gangs, Irgun and Lehi, massacred 254 Palestinians in a village called Der Yassin.

For a week before Israeli retaliatory strikes, Hamas fired over 100 rockets into Israel, without killing anyone but providing the necessary justification for Israel whose rockets and missiles have now killed over 450 and injured over 1000.

As I listen to the statements from the Bush administration, who blames Hamas alone for all the violence, and the Messiah himself holidaying in Hawaii, I am amazed at the complete lack of humanity in their response. There is absolutely no iota of sympathy, or regret or grief for those who died. It is as if their hearts are made of stone.

Whether in the US or even in Israel, terrorism is not just threatening lives but is slowly destroying the humanity of these nations.

Hamas shot a few rockets into Israel; but that is who they are and that is what they do – they are a terrorist organization. Israel and the US, however, are supposed to be democracies that care about human rights. But when they massacre hundreds of people and their citizen’s watch in silence, no protests, no shock, then there is something fundamentally wrong.

I still believe in democracy. I think it is a great system of governance. But I also fear that today democracies are not only experiencing economic recession but also a moral recession. We are gradually accepting things which until recently were taboo. In combating terrorist organizations we have steadily lowered the moral bar with which we have traditionally judged the worth of democracies. Torture, kidnapping, assassinations and now massacres have become justifiable – what next?

Unless we wake up and change course very soon, there may be no difference left between democracy and terrorism – and that will be the ultimate victory for terrorism.

(Photo courtesy of Amir Farshad Ebrahimi via flickr under a Creative Commons license).

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. His work and writings can be seen at www.ijtihad.org.

Commentary

Muqtedar Khan

Previous Post

January 3, 2009

Civil liberties: Better safe than free?

Next Post

January 6, 2009 Gaza crisis: Who is a civilian? Who is a terrorist?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Elections 30 Dayd 30 Writers (2017) 30 Days 30 Writers 30 Days 30 Writers (2015) 30 Days 30 Writers (2016) 30 Days 30 Writers (2018) 30 Days 30 Writers 2017 Ali Asadullah Ali Eteraz Alper Bilgili Arthur Richards Asides Asma Uddin Black History Month Briefings Charles Turner Commentary Cyrus McGoldrick Eman H Aly Fatimah Popal Hajj Hajj and Dhul Hijjah Hesham Hassaballa Hisham Hellyer Ibrahim Abusharif Inas Younis Irfan Yusuf Jalal Baig Junaid Afeef Laila Alawa Laila Alwala Mas'ood Cajee Muqtedar Khan Nakia Jackson Newsmakers Parvez Ahmed Podcasts Rabia Chaudry Rafia Zakaria Ramadan Reviews Safiyyah Ally Saud Inam Shahed Amanullah Svend White The Opinionated Oncologist Visions Wajahat Ali Zahed Amanullah Zahir Janmohamed Zainab Khan

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book of the Bible has a talking tree?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Proverbs Genesis Judges Ezekiel