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Finding peace amid sensory overload

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/wakim-finding-peace-amid-sensory-overload/story-e6freai3-1226226136202

The Advertiser
December 20, 2011

My induction as a Twitterer evoked religious parallels. We become followers of those seeking to maximise their following, and their tweets follow us.

MULTI-TASKING is no longer the dominion of one gender or one generation. Like many screen-agers, my children boast about this “multi-tasking”, juggling multiple screens.

They can send and receive with great dexterity – texting on a mobile phone, while completing a school project on the computer screen, while glancing at the TV screen in the background.

A computer may freeze when too many programs are operating concurrently, or if it is being driven too fast.

But we expect our God-made brains to evolve faster than our man-made technology.

This mismatch was identified last century by scientific genius Albert Einstein when he declared that “it has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”.

Our real world mimics the virtual world, as our eyes scroll like a mouse, minimising and maximising the multiple screens that surround us.

This multi-focal lifestyle has also become hazardous for parents, who feel hypocritical criticising their children.

Even on a beautiful day, we wind up our car windows so that we can hear the cell phone, the Navigator and the sound system.

Like our children, we see the world through windows, so we cannot hear the bird tweets or smell the roses, literally and metaphorically.

It begs bigger questions: When was the last time that we totally focused on one task? Where does this tunnel of windows lead? What does this bombardment of external stimulation block out?

There does not appear to be any spiritual enlightenment at the end of this endless tunnel. Yet all things spiritual need us to “be still” and focus on our internal light.

I pretend this stillness happens before I sleep, but the phone and laptop screens even follow me there as my “second brain” never sleeps. Even as I sleep, I am still not still, but “on call”.

My recent induction as a Twitterer evoked religious parallels – we become followers of those seeking to maximise their following, and their tweets can follow us everywhere we go.

As we become saturated with these snappy screen messages, we may inadvertently be clicking “unfollow” to the eternal voice which transcends technology and whispers to our soul. Ironically, Christian followers of the holy spirit would know that during the baptism of Jesus, it was also depicted as a bird.

Have we become sheep and allowed the tweets of the blue bird to drown out this white dove?

Technology is not the inherent problem, as it can be used or abused.

Clergy have embraced Facebook and Twitter to send spiritual messages to their flock once a day rather than a homily once a week.

In order to “be still”, we need to shut down many screens and windows. Paradoxically, high-speed signals to our sensors from these inter-connected technologies may insulate us from the inner peace that comes with stillness.

Without trivialising the debilitation of MS, I worry that this spiritual disconnect will lead to multiple screen-osis of our central spiritual system, as the accumulated and chronic status of sensory overload precludes us from the state of stillness.

We can choose to un-busy ourselves so that next time we are asked how we are, the answer is: “At peace”.

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A little extra Christmas care

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3744040.html

A little extra Christmas care
Joseph Wakim and Judy Saba

As families congregate around carols and trees, and the aerial view of society resembles many rotating wheels, those who have fallen off the wheels become the loneliest dots.

Thankfully, there are many benevolent services for homeless people. I sang carols for a Christmas lunch for homeless people last year. It was heartening to see the aloneness broken and these dots inter-connect to form circles.

But one can be lonely without being alone. And this dark pain can be overshadowed by the fairy lights and tinsel. The annual celebration of the holy birth at the nativity could also be the time of pondering the end of a life.

Suicidal Christmas may seem like an oxymoron, but for those involved in its prevention, it is a fatal combination.

It is a time when one can hear one’s own heartbeat pounding in one’s head, and the ears ringing like sirens, and one’s life flash past, while the rest of the world seems so caught up in expressions of love that they are oblivious to these ticking time bombs.

And when it tragically happens, there is gnashing of teeth, and a slow motion rewind for all the clues that were missed before the blame game creates lifelong ripple effects.

When I worked as a street worker with runaway children, I convinced myself that so long as the children experienced unconditional love, at least from me, then they were immune from suicide. But I was wrong.

Feeling loved by others was like a hug – a temporary bandaid that was effective only while you were together. But the bleeding wound was the lack of self-love. That hole in the heart cannot be healed by outsiders.

At funerals, loved ones agonise to find peace by trying to answer one question – why?

The countdown to Christmas is a critical time to reach out to the lonely hearts, even in our own families and social networks. As we accelerate towards our self-imposed deadlines, we may speed past some subtle cries for help.

Subtle means that they are not moods posted on Facebook, or angry threats of suicide.

Depending on the culture and customs, we can all be prone to misinterpret and miss these alarm bells.

A person who suddenly decides to visit relatives and thank them for nostalgic childhood memories may be applauded with ‘he is finally learning to show respect for his elders – isn’t this wonderful?’. But he was actually preparing his farewells.

A person who stops going out with friends at night and instead withdraws to his bedroom may be applauded with ‘finally he has outgrown that dangerous stage and stopped wasting money with late nights – isn’t it wonderful that he now stays at home with his family?’. But he has actually started to close in on himself.

A person who starts to give away personal and favourite belongings to others may be applauded with ‘he takes after his father – isn’t this wonderful that he has become so generous?’ But he was actually parting from all worldly possessions.

A person who declares his unconditional love may be applauded with ‘he will grow up to be a fine man who is not afraid to express emotions’. But he was actually saying goodbye.

With Year 12 results announced, and anniversaries of many natural disasters last year, this is a time when self-love may be tested.

This Christmas, we can all give the gift of saving a life, by giving presence rather than presents. The Friends of Friends Mentor project in Sydney is one program that offers volunteers who regularly call and check on vulnerable youth with whom they are partnered. After years of success and suicide prevention, the beneficiaries have now become mentors. All the training in the world cannot surpass the power of just being a friend. No simplistic tick-box checklists apply. Just making the person believe that they are worthy of this time, and worthy of self-love.

If we join the dots and see what shape they form, we may see that some have trapped themselves into an inescapable circle where they are cutting out oxygen, light and hope. Through the power of presence, we can help.
Joseph Wakim is a freelance writer and former Multicultural Affairs Commissioner. Judy Saba is a cross-cultural psychologist.

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Lesson in Sage lines borrowed by Kennedy


http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/lesson-in-sage-lines-borrowed-by-kennedy-20111228-1pcvm.html

Lesson in sage lines borrowed by Kennedy
December 29, 2011

Sydney Morning Herald

A Lebanese-American poet wrote wise words for Arab states, writes Joseph Wakim.

‘A sk not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

These words were made famous by United States President John F. Kennedy in his 1961 inauguration speech. He should have said, ”In the words of Kahlil Gibran … ”, referring to the Lebanese-American poet and artist who lived from 1883 to 1931.

But Gibran never intended these words to be addressed by a president to his people. He was writing an open letter, in Arabic, to Lebanese parliamentarians in 1925, during the fall of the Ottoman Empire. His letter was titled ”The New Frontier”, which gives a completely different meaning and context. ”Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country?” he wrote. ”If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert.”

JFK even used the new frontier idea in his convention acceptance speech, a few months earlier, and later made it a theme of his administration, saying: ”We stand today on the edge of a new frontier – the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats.”

As we reflect on the year of the Arab Spring, Gibran’s words apply to aspiring Arab leaders today in precisely the way he intended nearly a century ago.

Gibran’s letter could pertain easily to this year’s bloody revolutions that have been led by the younger generation and claimed many martyrs. He wrote: ”In the fields of the Middle East, which has been a large burial ground, stand the youth of Spring calling the occupants of the sepulchres to rise and march toward the new frontiers … There is on the horizon of the Middle East a new awakening; it is growing and expanding.”

The literary genius, famous for his timeless masterpiece The Prophet, was ironically prophetic about the young majority expelling the old guard, also writing: ”In the Middle East, there are two processions: one procession is of old people waling with bent backs, supported with bent canes … the other is a procession of young men, running as if on winged feet.”

This accurately depicts the generational divide of the Arab Spring. The youth who have led the uprisings are the majority of the citizens. In the region, 63 per cent of the population is under 29, and 30 per cent is between the ages of 15 and 29. As for their rulers and regimes, many like Egypt’s Mubarak and Libya’s Gaddafi were not their parent’s generation, but their grandparent’s generation.

One of the resonating legacies of Gibran was a spiritual revolution for universal human rights to emancipate women, build bridges of understanding between religions, close the gap between rich and poor and curb all forms of exclusivism. Such themes were manifest in the placards of the protesters who sought their rights.

Gibran was a Christian who embraced Islam, an easterner who lived in the West, and therefore a living example of the spiritual revolutionary. With elections in Tunisia and Egypt, the candidates are being asked what they can do for their country.

This is a great time to focus on the visions of this great revolutionary of the Arab world. Syrian American film producer Malek Akkad, son of the late Moustapha Akkad, is preparing for the world’s first Hollywood movie about Gibran.

By coincidence, Lebanese Australian filmmaker Glen Kalem is also ready to produce the world’s first feature length documentary on Gibran, after 14 years of retracing his footsteps across four continents.

Gibran’s spiritual revolution is deeply rooted in the Arab culture and transcends the three monotheistic faiths, as he promotes the unity of being. The concept of a united unarmed uprising cannot be dismissed as Arab jealousy of modern Western democracies.

The armed tribal battles in Arab history have overshadowed the centuries of mass movements and sacrificial martyrs for human rights, long before Facebook aided protests.

The visions of Gibran have inspired a bastion of democracy and the Arab Spring. But his spiritual revolution grew from inner peace. If the newly elected Arab leaders emerge as conciliatory rather than power hungry, then Gibran’s message would have been heard: ”The wisdom of the many is your shield against tyranny. For when we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.”

If JFK was inspired by Gibran for his successful political platform 50 years ago, surely we can all gain insights from Gibran by reading ”The New Frontier”. Elections and democracy do not necessarily lead to peace and rights.

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Finding Peace amid sensory overload

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/wakim-finding-peace-amid-sensory-overload/story-e6freai3-1226226136202

The Advertiser, 20 December 2011

My induction as a Twitterer evoked religious parallels. We become followers of those seeking to maximise their following, and their tweets follow us.

MULTI-TASKING is no longer the dominion of one gender or one generation. Like many screen-agers, my children boast about this “multi-tasking”, juggling multiple screens.

They can send and receive with great dexterity – texting on a mobile phone, while completing a school project on the computer screen, while glancing at the TV screen in the background.

A computer may freeze when too many programs are operating concurrently, or if it is being driven too fast.
But we expect our God-made brains to evolve faster than our man-made technology.

This mismatch was identified last century by scientific genius Albert Einstein when he declared that “it has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”.

Our real world mimics the virtual world, as our eyes scroll like a mouse, minimising and maximising the multiple screens that surround us.

This multi-focal lifestyle has also become hazardous for parents, who feel hypocritical criticising their children.
Even on a beautiful day, we wind up our car windows so that we can hear the cell phone, the Navigator and the sound system.

Like our children, we see the world through windows, so we cannot hear the bird tweets or smell the roses, literally and metaphorically.

It begs bigger questions: When was the last time that we totally focused on one task? Where does this tunnel of windows lead? What does this bombardment of external stimulation block out?

There does not appear to be any spiritual enlightenment at the end of this endless tunnel. Yet all things spiritual need us to “be still” and focus on our internal light.

I pretend this stillness happens before I sleep, but the phone and laptop screens even follow me there as my “second brain” never sleeps. Even as I sleep, I am still not still, but “on call”.

My recent induction as a Twitterer evoked religious parallels – we become followers of those seeking to maximise their following, and their tweets can follow us everywhere we go.

As we become saturated with these snappy screen messages, we may inadvertently be clicking “unfollow” to the eternal voice which transcends technology and whispers to our soul.

Ironically, Christian followers of the holy spirit would know that during the baptism of Jesus, it was also depicted as a bird.

Have we become sheep and allowed the tweets of the blue bird to drown out this white dove?

Technology is not the inherent problem, as it can be used or abused.

Clergy have embraced Facebook and Twitter to send spiritual messages to their flock once a day rather than a homily once a week.

In order to “be still”, we need to shut down many screens and windows. Paradoxically, high-speed signals to our sensors from these inter-connected technologies may insulate us from the inner peace that comes with stillness.

Without trivialising the debilitation of MS, I worry that this spiritual disconnect will lead to multiple screen-osis of our central spiritual system, as the accumulated and chronic status of sensory overload precludes us from the state of stillness.

We can choose to un-busy ourselves so that next time we are asked how we are, the answer is: “At peace”.

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Marriage remains sacred

Published in National Times, 8 December 2011

http://bit.ly/uf2mXV

Marriage remains sacred even if gays are allowed in

The empowerment of ”people of the rainbow” need not represent Armageddon for ”people of the book”.

I dreaded the vision of a rabbi, cardinal and mufti standing shoulder to shoulder to block the prospective passage of same-sex marriage laws by our federal parliament.

I dreaded even more the abandonment of the Catholic voice left to fly the monotheistic flag alone.
Theologically, Jews, Christians and Muslims share a homogenous heterosexual definition of marriage, based on their sacred scriptures and their human interpretations.

In much of the heated online chats about this issue, I sensed a vindictive tone against Christians, blamed for centuries of homophobia, blamed for condemning fellow humans to a loveless life and lonely death, blamed for blaming fellow humans for their sexual orientation, blamed for playing judgmental god but neglecting godly compassion. The temperature is so high that Christians are better off praying rather than saying, otherwise they will be spat out like popcorn in boiling oil.

For those making most noise about this issue, it is a no-brainer. It has been successfully rebranded as a question of voting yes for equality and no to discrimination. It has been couched in a string of historic human rights struggles for minorities, be they black, indigenous or disabled. There are no logical counter-arguments, and anyone who dares will risk being rendered an endangered minority.

The debate is not about what the religious institutions can and cannot do. Their status and sanctity of marriage remains sacred and untouched. They can ”value add” to the marriage certificate that is issued by the state.
In churches, synagogues and mosques, marriage is far more than a civil union. It is a holy sacrament, with a divine blessing. It is not just a vow between two but three entities, including God. Anyone who has ever attended religious wedding ceremonies will be aware that it is steeped in rich layers of tradition, rituals, symbols, liturgy and songs. These sacred aspects may explain why ”people of the book” are precious about the word marriage, and prefer that it be reserved and patented exclusively for religious ceremonies.

The religious value-adds do not render their marriages more fail-proof. Pre-marriage classes are increasingly compulsory to test the lifelong commitment ”until death do us part” before it is made.

Standing in the path of these laws on religious grounds is neither courageous nor moral. It is foolish. For a start, most of those supporting law reform are heterosexual. For those who have dared to juxtapose the law of God against the proposed law of the land, their weak arguments and ”thou shalt not” quotations have reinforced the black-and-white backwardness of ”people of the book”, rather than the universal and embracing love that emanates from the creator.

For example, Jesus literally embraced many marginalised minorities in his short life, such as prostitutes, tax collectors, Roman soldiers and lepers. How can we be so sure that he would not have embraced others of pure heart? When challenged by Pharisees about the law of Moses and ”it is written”, Jesus often redefined priorities and proclaimed new laws, such as love prevailing over the 10 commandments. How can we be so sure that he would have drawn the line in the sand about marriage?

Even Jesus respected and accepted the laws of the Roman Empire, but asked his followers to give to God what is God’s. The healthy separation of ”church” from state means that citizens have the right to obtain two marriage certificates, one from church and one from state. They can choose to observe all the sacraments of their faith, such as baptism, bar mitzvah and male circumcision, and the state does not interfere. The state can choose to expand its definition of marriage, and the clergy should not interfere. After all, it is becoming a decision of conscience.

In an age where defactos, affairs and divorces are on the rise, it is ironic that marriage is sought by those who ”bat for the other team”.

I recently saw a neighbour whose partner died. When I shared my story about my wife and being a widower, it was clear that there was no ”other team” when it came to things that mattered most. Who was I to judge or dismiss his profound pain as a fellow human being?

Like creation, none of us are born black and white. Even us people of the book should step aside for the rainbow to reign, and love to reign over fear, and leave the rest to conscience and the creator.

Joseph Wakim is a freelance writer. He is a former Victorian multicultural affairs commissioner.

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Hidden truths, contradictions in Syria’s quagmire

Published in Canberra Times, 1 December 2011

http://bit.ly/rSKVhc

When the Arab Spring becomes a dense canopy, many shady truths hide among its bushy foliage.

The Obama administration was recently caught out, tangled in the Syrian quagmire.

In August, US President Barrack Obama condemned the violence against the ‘peaceful protestors in Syria’ and this was echoed by Secretary of State Hilary when she referred to ‘slaughtering thousands of unarmed Syrian citizens, including children’.

If this principled stand was applied across all states in the Middle East, including US allies, it would have attracted integrity rather than cynicism.

However, it was contradicted earlier this month after the Syrian Interior Ministry announced an eight day amnesty for surrendering weapons as a concession to mark the Muslim feast Eid al Adha between 5 and 12 November. It invited the people ‘who carry weapons, sell, distribute, purchase or finance the purchase and who do not commit murder to hand over their weapons to the nearest police station’.

Rather than supporting the amnesty to end the bloodshed, and supporting dialogue with the anti-government protestors, the US State Department’s spokeswoman Victoria Nuland declared “I wouldn’t advise anybody to turn themselves in to regime authorities”.

Given her president’s insistence on unarmed peaceful civilians, surely her more logical response should have been ‘what weapons’? This couched admission of armed forces is as ‘knee-deep’ as the US fertilising the armed uprising.

It would have been interesting to ask Nuland and her bosses to explain the weapon sources for last weekend’s bombing of the Baath Party’s main building in Damascus.

Dr Bashar Al Assad did not initially chose to be in politics. He and his Sunni British wife were recalled from his apthamology career in London to be groomed for the Syrian presidency after his brother died Basil in an accident in 1994. But this is no excuse for several strategic blunders. His vague hour long speech to the Syrian parliament on 30 March, two weeks after the protests began, blamed international conspiracies for the uprising and blamed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for failing to implement his overdue domestic reforms. The legitimate aspirations of his own citizens were drowned out by applause, chants and standing ovations. He squandered his opportunity to prevent the cross pollination of the Arab Spring, and prevent future accusations of ‘too little to late’.

In his recent interview with London’s The Sunday Times, the president would have been wiser to detach himself from the rhetoric of the condemned and slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

It was Gaddafi who declared that ‘we will fight to the last drop of blood’, and now Assad has declared that ‘each spilt drop of blood concerns me personally’. Gaddafi vowed that ‘Tripoli would burn’, while Assad warned that Syria is a fault line in the region and ‘if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake’.

However Assad’s openness to genuine reform and an evolution rather than a revolution was evident in his declaration that the February 2012 elections would vote for a parliament to create a new constitution and this would include not only how to elect a president but indeed “if they need a president” at all. And this is where his faith in his people and putting his nation first differs dramatically from Gaddafi.

Assad cannot be blamed for treating the Arab League’s ultimatums with cynicism. If the member states, dubbed the ‘dictators club’, were genuinely concerned about ‘killing and violence against civilians’, then surely it would extend such suspensions and sanctions to US allies and oil rich states such as Yemen and Bahrain for their brutality against their own civilians.

In August, US President Obama called on his Syrian counterpart to ‘step aside’ because ‘his calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow’. But the Obama administration’s anti-Syria sanctions also ring hollow. Banning petroleum products of Syrian origin and freezing the Syrian government assets would have more impact in Russia, but very little in the USA. Unlike the Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan and Yemeni leaders who were renown for their greed and personal assets, such clench-fisted threats amount to less than a slap to Assad.

While the number of deaths since the Syrian uprising has exceeded 3000, what is hidden by the ‘book cover’ of the Arab Spring foliage is the number of soldiers and security police who have been murdered by the armed gangs.

What is also hidden is the admission by foreign funded terror groups of their violent exploits and provocations in Syria. In televised confessions on Syrian TV, terrorist Khaled Ibrahim al-Taleb confessed to committing several crimes in Homs including killing protestors in order to accuse the army soldiers of doing so. He confessed to attacking military checkpoints and abducting citizens to terrify them, and their collaboration with terrorists groups.

What is hidden in combat gear within the foliage are foreign suppliers of arms and finance, including Saudi Salafists seeking a theocracy not a democracy. What is hidden are images of the rising resolve of the silent majority Syrians to defend their country from foreign intervention.

It may be time to prune the foliage of the Arab Spring and expose those lurking parasites. They should be caught red-handed before a dark winter descends on Syria.

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The irony of boat people phobia

The irony of boat people phobia
Published in Brisbane Courier Mail, 30 July 2010

Why do politicians pursuing power prey on the most powerless people?
Asylum-seekers arriving in boats are mostly women and children, yet they have conveniently become a demonised dartboard in the current federal election. They are the balloons that must be speared before they enter our comfort circle.

Boat people are nothing new. White Australia began with boat people. Australia Day celebrates the arrival of the First Fleet, and the Sydney Opera House is inspired by this historic spectacle of white sails in the sun.

To the local people at that time, the boats carried invaders who had to be feared and resisted. It must have been a nightmare for the elders when 11 convict ships from Great Britain, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, appeared on the horizon of what is now Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788. Some of their worst fears were realised with the introduction of foreign diseases, criminals and firearms.

Fast forward to 2010 and this xenophobia about boat people invading our sacred shores continues. Ironically, the resistance is now led by
fair-skinned people against dark skinned people.

And what weapons are these invaders supposedly carrying? Difference. More dangerous than explosives because it is a moving target that cannot be contained. Hence the holding centre gives us peace of mind that their foreign poison will not leak.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott regurgitated the same old stereotypes of asylum-seekers: ‘‘We’ve got illicit drugs, we’ve got plant and animal diseases, we’ve got all sorts of other potential criminal activity’’. This is probably what an indigenous elder may have declared two centuries ago, after the convicts settled and hoisted their flags. Abbott’s idea of ‘‘turning the boats back’’ is about as likely as turning the clocks back to pre-white Australia.

Ask anyone who has ever worked with these boat people about their degree of desperation. No human being would risk the lives of their
beloved family in treacherous waters unless they were in an irreversibly life-threatening situation, with nothing more to lose.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard vows to ‘‘stop boats, not when they are on our horizons, but before they leave port’’. This may be closer to a solution if it is coupled with a strategy to redress the root causes of the desperation. That way, we would be dealing with the sources, symptoms and solutions.

It is ironic that some of these ‘‘invaders’’ are themselves fleeing from the effects of western invasion. The Iraqis are a case in point, many of
whom have found their homeland unliveable after the Coalition of the Willing (that included Australia) invaded their country to overthrow
their dictator in 2003.

So what exactly is this difference that is so threatening to Australia?

It should not be that some are Muslim as we have had Muslims in Australia since the Macassar fishermen pre the First Fleet, then as British convicts in subsequent fleets in the 1700s, then as Afghan camel drivers in the 1800s. Indeed, it was these Afghans who helped open up the
inland rail lines and telegraph lines in this vast continent that would eventually link Adelaide to Darwin. So it was beneficial to take in Muslims and animals at that time.

It should not be that they are criminals, as there is no empirical evidence for this stereotype. Unlike the convicts who were Australia’s first
boat people, many of whom committed petty crimes, there is no evidence that today’s boat people generally have a criminal record.

Yet there is abundant evidence that boat people love to give something back to Australia. Due to their deprivation, they cherish the new homeland that may be taken for granted by those of us who were born here. The Vietnamese and Iraqi refugees are testament to the aspiration to seize and celebrate their citizenship. As a Multicultural Affairs Commissioner who attended many citizenship ceremonies,
I heard the stories of many of these boat people who shed tears as they grabbed the certificate with both hands. They have become the
staunchest ambassadors of Australia’s generosity, both at home and abroad.

What is probably most threatening about their weapon of difference is that they are not so different. If we listen to their narratives, from chapter one – their love of family, their fear of persecution, their experience of war, their loss of relatives, their prayer for a safe haven – they are suddenly not so different in their aspirations, and them become us.

Beneath the grainy images of skinny, sea-sick, unshaven vagrants, they have faces, names and dreams – just like us. Of course there are bad apples in every bunch – indigenous people and boat people. But if fair-skinned politicians are going to throw darts and generalisations, it is best that they start with fair dinkum facts about the majority. Otherwise, they will drown in a tidal wave of ironies about so-called invaders.

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Lebanon’s history presents two important lessons

Lebanon’s history presents two important lessons
Published in The Canberra Times, 5 Feb 2011
http://bit.ly/tuvq1x

The current uprising in Egypt begs a compelling question of the American pro-democracy champions. In their narrative, their ally and benefactor, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is ostensibly one of our good guys.

The corollary is that the pro-democracy demonstrators must be the bad guys.

By definition, democracy must always be bottom up, bringing forth what the population wants not the American engineered top-down democracy, showering citizens with what they are deemed to need. How could successive American diplomats be so out of touch with the fact that Mubarak was so out of touch with his own people? Rather than spending America’s $1.3 billion to fatten Egypt’s armoury each year, and indeed defend Israel’s borders, the Americans could have stipulated that conditions apply. For example, feed the 40 million Egyptians (nearly half the population) who live on $2 a day, and educate the 30million Egyptians who are illiterate. The free-speech champion could have stipulated that ”emergency law” be abandoned so that legitimate opposition parties could emerge without fear of arrest and imprisonment.

Mubarak’s cloaked scaremongering about the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood ”adhering to their own agendas … [and] taking advantage of the protesters” is ironic. During his autocratic rule, the more dissidents were arrested and imprisoned, the more likely they would resort to religious movements. Mubarak had inadvertently empowered an underground movement of disgruntled citizens.

It takes an act of courage and desperation for the Egyptian protesters to risk their lives in public protests, knowing that they could be arrested.

Neighbouring country Lebanon, where I was born, understands people power and the slogans such as ”30 years enough is enough”. When the Cedar Revolution or ”million-strong march” took place in Martyrs Square in Beirut, on March 14, 2005, it led to the end of the 30-year Syrian occupation. The revolution was a direct reaction to the assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri, where fear was replaced with a fight for freedom. It was not until this bottom-up manifestation of democracy took place and the international spotlight zoomed in that the 15,000 Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon.

There are two historic lessons to be learned from the Lebanese experience. The first is that it is not until bottom-up democracy manifests itself en masse and people are killed that calls for regime change are taken seriously. The same calls by individuals had been met with persecution or assassination. The double standards of the pro-democracy Western allies are exposed and galvanised, showing the world that a government by, of and for the people is not a modern Western model, but a universal human aspiration.

Hence, the powerful images of the Cairo marches that were beamed across the globe had increased the temperature on Egypt’s President to respond honourably. It is tragic that it takes a bloody revolution for cries of fellow humans to be heard.

This is what irks me about a selfish focus on rescuing Australians who are ”trapped” in Egypt. The protesters are not just crying out to their president in Arabic; they are crying out to all of us in English. My children and I were caught up in Lebanon in 2006, during the Israeli-Hezbollah war. More than 1200 Lebanese were killed, so our relatives were more trapped than us. They had no other homeland to flee to via a waiting aeroplane. Such emotive language about Australians risks reducing the Arab land to a quagmire that is not worth understanding. It is as if once ”our Aussies” are back home, we can heave a collective sigh of relief, and the rest can be relegated to the rear pages of our news bulletins or someone else’s history books.

The second lesson is that the young pro-democracy Lebanese voices in the crowd on March 14, 2005, were not necessarily reflected in the eventual new government, a fragile coalition of political puppets, sovereign nationals, genuine intellectuals and anointed sons. We did not see the likes of the young generation of protesters elected into the new parliament. But after six years, this coalition was outnumbered. On January 26, a new Prime Minister, Najib Mikata, was elected, supported by the opposition parties, including Hezbollah. It is a chilling coincidence that the Tunisia-inspired Jasmine Revolution in Tahrir Square in Cairo commenced on the same day.

The aspirations of the courageous youth are not necessarily echoed in the eventual government and those waiting in the wings. It is not a forgone conclusion that an interim government would be led by Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, former director-general of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency. He has been living in self-exile in Vienna for over a decade and might not have the endorsement of the major opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, who in turn would need to work with the Coptic Christian representatives.

Ironically, United States President Barack Obama warned in his historic speech at Cairo University on June 4, 2009, ”There are some who advocate for democracy only when they’re out of power; once they’re in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others … you must respect the rights of minorities … elections alone do not make true democracies.”

The ancient Arabic proverb ”the enemy of my enemy is my friend” may be useful as a short-term strategy. Leaders are appointed as the enemy of the enemy, until they themselves become the enemy, or, as another Arabic proverb says, ”arrogance diminishes wisdom”.

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Arabists failed to read signs

Arabists failed to read signs
Published in Brisbane Courier Mail, 3 March 2011
http://bit.ly/uo5UVh

DIDN’T SEE IT COMING: Middle East experts did not predict the uprisings sweeping the Arab world which began in Tunisia sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17 and leading to the ousting of the country’s President.

WHAT differentiates the recent natural disasters sweeping across our region and the Jasmine Revolution that is sweeping across the Arab region?

The experts have proved to be fairly reliable predictors for the former, but useless for the latter.

During the past decade, so-called Arabist experts have dominated our TV screens, radio waves, opinion columns and bookstores with their specialised knowledge on the region and have been major consultants to governments throughout the “war on terror”.

They have been entrusted to shape our foreign policies and have propagated the simplistic notion of us (freedom lovers) versus them (fanatical tribes).

It is time for analysis of the Western Arabists and their agendas. If they place Israel in the centre as the only true democracy in the region, then their law of relativity would render Arab states as merely threats driven by Islamic fanatics. This is ironic, as the demonstrators do not have Islam and Israel on their lips or banners.

Of course, humans cannot be read and predicted as scientifically as nature, but there were many metaphorical weather patterns missed by Arabists.

When Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia on December 17, they could have read the high temperature and realised that this one match would ignite a bushfire that was more potent than oil wells.

His fate epitomised the frustration of so many others – a 26-year-old university graduate whose qualifications could not be used, so he resorted to selling fruit and was stopped by the police for not buying a permit. He could not afford the bribe and the local authority refused to hear his complaint.

Contrary to what the Arabists would have us believe, the anthem of the demonstrators was not a verse from the Koran. It was the verses of a rap song, Rais Lebled, by Tunisian rapper El General, that had become so popular it was adopted as the battle hymn of the Jasmine Revolution. The hits to download and share this song should have triggered curiosity as this was a cyclone gaining momentum.

Yet the power of the internet, Facebook and mobile phones was grossly overlooked. With more than half the Arab population aged under 30, these technologies enable instant organisation and mobilisation.

Even the expert advisers to the US Government did not see the digital “levee” was broken and an inland tsunami was imminent.

Trusting her advisers, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared “our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable”.

The refusal of the military to follow orders and use force against the demonstrators, especially in Egypt, should have been detected by the intelligence gatherers as a fault line between the army and the president.

Why this disturbing and dangerous disconnect between the Arabists and the Arabs? Perhaps because the experts were so busy looking for the next Islamic bogeyman, who might be a threat to Israeli security, that they had lost touch with the moderate majority.

Too busy searching for the next terrorist cell, but ignoring the tyrants who have often been quietly supported by the US Government.

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The Pacifist Intifada

The Pacifist Intifada
Published in New Matilda, 8 June 2011
http://bit.ly/mbEYis

Why are Australian politicians so reluctant to express moral outrage about Palestine? Joseph Wakim on the UN vote on Palestinian statehood and the rise of peaceful protest in the region

“We cannot be selective. We must be consistent in our approach to the region. It is not good enough that Australia and the international community offer little more than words and sanctions that continue to be defied. Australia needs to be a leader in its condemnation of the atrocities.”

Now this oration deserves a standing ovation. If only it was Australia’s foreign policy.

These passionate words of Liberal front bencher Joe Hockey echo exactly what a growing chorus of Australians have been chanting (pdf) about Palestinians. Except that Hockey was referring to Syrians, in a speech sparked by the mutilation of 13-year old-Syrian child Hamza al Khatib.

Hockey hails from a Palestinian father and established the parliamentary Friends of Palestine. Yet why is he afraid to express the same moral outrage at the daily atrocities committed against Palestinians?

It has never been politically popular to support so-called terrorists and to offend friends in high places.

But in case our MPs have not noticed, the Palestinians are unarmed in this third Intifada and their pacifists have arrived. The litany of excuses and delays should be stripped away.

Instead, UN resolutions “continue to be defied” and the members of the Congress of the world’s sole superpower jumped up on cue 55 times to applaud the defiant words of the Israeli Prime Minister. They jumped so high we could almost see the strings dangling and tangling above them — but not the faces of the puppeteers.

These double standards raise the question — when does morality matter more than money when it comes to Palestine?

Australia’s position will be put to the test in September when the UN General Assembly decides on the legitimacy of Palestinian statehood within the pre-1967 borders. The well-oiled machine will wield the usual carrots and sticks internationally to ensure that Palestine remains subservient and indeed sub-human, in the hope that at least a two thirds majority of the 192 UN members also jump on cue when their strings are pulled. However, this vote has to be recommended by at least nine members out of the 15 who sit on the Security Council, and cannot be vetoed by any permanent UNSC member.

If the application is successful, the sovereign state of Palestine will be able to make claims against Israel in the International Criminal Court, just as Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has called the UN to do with the Syrian president. Some Israeli leaders fear that to legitimse Palestine would delegitimise the “Jewish state”. Indeed Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned of a “diplomatic tsunami [toward] Israel’s delegitimisation”.

Israel could also choose to become part of the human rights revolutions in its neighbourhood.
The global rise of non-violent movements to end the immoral and illegal occupation of Palestine is gaining momentum. These movements aim to re-legitimise, not de-legitimise, Israel, within international law.

We find many manifestations of this spirit: The mass march of thousands of unarmed Palestinians towards the Israeli borders to commemorate Al Nakba Day on 15 May, marking the exodus of 760,000 Palestinians in 1948 to make way for the Israeli state.

The grass-roots driven BDS campaign which includes boycotts by performers such as Roger Waters from Pink Floyd.

The second multinational Gaza flotilla carrying humanitarian aid. The June fleet will consist of 15 ships carrying over 1500 activists from about 100 countries, double the scale of the first and ill-fated flotilla 12 months ago.

The courageous rise of Jewish voices who distinguish between Jews, Israelis and Zionists. A prime example is the launch of The General’s Son, a firsthand account by Israeli Miko Paled about the 1948 and 1967 occupation. He warns that “when the truth and reconciliation commission begins its work and they [occupiers] are finally shamed into admitting they were wrong, they need to remember to go down on their knees and beg forgiveness from the people they so greatly wronged”.

The regular candle vigils (pdf) held by church groups for peace in the land that is sacred for all Christians.

The rise of Palestinian pacifists such as Gazan Doctor Izzedin Abuelaish who spoke about his book I Shall Not Hate at the Sydney Writer’s Festival and the Wheeler Centre last month. After losing three of his children during the Israeli assault on Gaza in January 2009, this Palestinian is touring the world preaching peace through compassion.

The release of Freedom for Palestine by international musicians One World. This song was inspired by Free Nelson Mandela by The Special AKA in 1984, because “apartheid in South Africa has fallen but something very similar remains in Palestine”.

The list goes on as the third but non-violent Intifada takes root globally and uproots the immoral occupation of our minds, after decades of wearing terror-tinted glasses.

But does this groundswell of people-power matter if puppet strings can still be pulled by those wielding the carrots and sticks?

Even though the stone throwing and the shoe throwing have stopped, morality must be given an opportunity to prevail. And Australia has a historic opportunity to lead by conscience, rather than follow like cowards. Only then will we be “consistent in our approach to the region”.

________________________________________
Source URL: http://newmatilda.com/2011/06/08/pacifist-intifada
Links:
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/02/3233225.htmhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/02/3233225.htm
[2] http://australiansforpalestine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/BP1-Hamas-27May11.pdf
[3] http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/05/201153185927813389.html
[4] http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/management/no-ordinary-bloke-joe-hockey-20090518-b9me.html
[5] http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/6B939C57EA9EF32785256F33006B9F8D
[6] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/30/the_virtues_of_folding
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/world/middleeast/03mideast.html
[8] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/top-un-official-u-s-veto-would-block-vote-on-palestinian-statehood-1.364506
[9] http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudd-wants-court-action-against-alassad-20110601-1fg3q.html
[10] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/barak-israel-must-advance-peace-or-face-a-diplomatic-tsunami-1.348973
[11] http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/2011515649440342.html
[12] http://www.bdsmovement.net/
[13] http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=210986
[14] http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=205047
[15] http://mikopeled.wordpress.com/category/the-generals-son-by-miko-peled/
[16] http://www.actforpeace.org.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/Advocacy/Peace Vigil.pdf
[17] http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/26/not-hate-gaza-doctor-abuelaish-review
[18] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4077103,00.html
[19] http://www.newstatesman.com/music/2010/03/dammers-nelson-mandela-political
[20] http://www.leedspsc.org.uk/?p=8988
[21] http://newmatilda.com/user/register
[22] https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Matilda/23703068834
[23] http://newmatilda.com/subscribe