You Got That Right

With extreme change comes extreme resistance. Whether it is a physical military attack against person or country or a massive change in the world that threatens a way of life, reactions are not likely to be sweet and gentle and dovish. Appeasement only goes so far before wagons are circled, lines drawn in the sand, and reaction mixed with over-reaction becomes standard. Nothing screams “volatile” like the madness of Islamic extremists attempting to impose their will on the rest of the world. The resurgent aggression of Herr Putin’s Russia and Kim Jong-Un’s Korea rub salt into the wounds festering in the global consciousness. All the understanding of “why” or the Western role in creating this instability goes by the wayside; ire is raised, intolerance escalates, and simmering conflicts become out-and-out war.

Even within the United States, new liberalization of gun laws – some allowing “open carry” virtually everywhere – the press of religious extremists to reverse decades of women’s rights, to deprive those who oppose them by marginalizing their votes (gerrymanders and voter ID laws), and who believe that their scientifically-disproven explanation of life on earth must be forced on children of entirely different faiths… are clashing with surges in ethnic minorities who are passing white traditionalists as the de facto largest segment in society, pushes to repeal laws banning marijuana usage and changes in the work force where steady employment is slowly being replace by part-time and contract work with no benefits. The extreme economic polarization is a powerful sign of national decline. And fear and our inability to return to the economic prosperity we once knew before the onslaught of global competition are clearly lurching our politics to the right. So it is with most of the world these days.

When I lived in the Middle East a long time ago, the United States was held high as an example of democracy and freedom that produced social benefits (education and healthcare), jobs and economic success along with power and global respect. Except for the exceptional tribal societies in places like Saudi Arabia, terrified of Western values, most of the Middle East expected their own nations to mirror the American model. Instead, corrupt leaders siphoned the money and left the people impoverished. As long as these leaders followed the American directives, their corruption was supported by billions of dollars of military aid that kept these dictators in power. Their threat to the US: if you don’t provide us with this money, the Soviets will. We took the bait.

With poverty clearly not going to end, and corruption backed by US or Soviet military force insuring continued poverty, the religious right took over. It explained poverty well – richness and pursuit of material wealth is a distraction from pious preparation for transition into the next world. In Islam, the path to heaven is either a pious life of commitment, following the pillars of Islam, and then dying and waiting for a distant judgment day where the gates to heaven and hell are determined or dying in the service of God. Martyrs, those who die as part of their service to God, don’t have to wait; they get the pearly gates the instant they die. Think about how unscrupulous religious leaders can turn the naiveté of young impressionable minds into human bombs with that thought. And these older religious leaders generally don’t seem to be the ones engaged in these suicide missions. America was no longer a model; it was instead viewed as a colonizer.

So also  is the West lurching to the right. Anti-immigrant policies are rapidly accelerating in the political rhetoric of mainstream parties in the United States, France, England, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece… well, pretty much the whole of Europe. Israel is redefining the Arab presence in their midst (the non-violent, non-Hamas people as well) as legally second class citizens. Only Jews can be first class citizens. Lines in sand, solidarity against the intruders and tough-stand politicians are finding new traction everywhere.

We’re also seeing that lurch to the right on the Islamic side; new forces are embracing religious conservatism and anti-Western values, from the Erdogan anti-secularist regime in Turkey to the struggles of ultra-violent, self-appointed police forces and military units, battling the local mega-corrupt official police. Boko Haram is dead set on purging everything Western from their growing stronghold in northern Nigeria, no matter how many people die. The Islamic State is doing the same thing in Iraq and Syria under the guise of protecting Sunnis from malevolent Shiites and Western corruptors. Indeed the greatest number of people suffering at the hands of Muslim extremists are… their fellow Muslims. Iran is the Shiite protector, and so on, and so on.

Pakistan, under attack from a growing Taliban militancy – some from within its own borders and some from neighboring Pakistan – is also lurching to the right. A nation defined by its military coups, Pakistan is watching growing popular support for a return of the iron hand of military rule. And instead of a coup, the Army is now being asked to take over. “After Taliban gunmen massacred dozens of schoolchildren in Peshawar [in December], Pakistan’s two most powerful men convened an emergency meeting at army headquarters. Their body language, captured in a government-released photo, was revealing: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looked glum and ill at ease, while the man beside him, Gen. Raheel Sharif, the army chief, lectured confidently.

“To many Pakistanis, the symbolism was rich and unambiguous. After a tumultuous year, Mr. Sharif’s government may still be hanging on, extending a nearly seven-year stretch of civilian rule. But otherwise, Pakistan’s generals are back in the driver’s seat… Under General Sharif, who took his post in late 2013 and is not related to the prime minister, the army has transformed its fortunes: triumphing over the government in a series of bruising public clashes, bringing unruly critics in the news media to heel, and winning broad support for a drive against Islamist militants in their tribal stronghold.

“Now, the military has claimed a victory that may turn out to be the most significant of all, allowing the generals deep inroads into an institution that has hounded them in recent years: Pakistan’s judiciary… A constitutional amendment passed by Parliament on [January 6^th] empowered military courts to try suspected Islamist militants, opening the way for a rapid but rough-hewed judicial process that could move defendants from arrest to execution in a matter of weeks.

“The military, responding to public anger over the Peshawar killings, is moving fast: On [January 9^th], it announced the establishment of nine new courts, with a promise that they would start work soon… ‘The optics are very clear,’ said Salman Raja, a prominent lawyer who said he was hastily brushing up on military law. ‘The military is calling all of the shots.’” New York Times, January 10^th.

None of these regimes will solve the core issues. They won’t stop the decimation of farmland and livelihoods from climate change, they won’t provide vast new store of foodstuffs to too many starving people, they cannot create solid economic growth or stem the tide of economic hardship and they cannot effectively reallocate dwindling natural resources to Malthusian swelling populations. What they can do is kill people, and perhaps in a vicious cycle of natural selection – aided by outbreaks of uncontained disease – will eliminate the “too many mouths to feed” in the cruelest way.

At a time where understanding and dialog are most necessary, we are instead drawing those immutable lines in the sand, and the rise of a need to retaliate with force is overwhelming. Of course brutal attacks on innocents living their lives in complete accordance with their own culture cannot never be accepted, explained or simply exonerated. What we can do, however, is measure our own reactions, step away from embracing simple solutions and stereotypes that in the long term provoke more of what we hate the most. As fear and loathing lurch this entire planet to the right, it just may be a time for us to mix protecting ourselves with a deeper understanding of what is really happening.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I just wonder how many are really listening or trying to understand or have simply made their minds up, no matter what.