The Middle East Heroes

The real heroes of the Middle East are those we don't hear about.

Esra'a at Middle East Youth has an angry, passionate piece on the perceived heros in the Middle East, who for many in the region are Al-Qadea leaders, Hezbollah militants, IDF soldiers - all 'warriors' whose power rests primarily on the basis of their ability to execute violent acts, be that terrorist attacks, running street battles in Beruit or the collective punishment of Gaza (I'll admit I am wary of including the IDF along with Zawahiri and Nasrallah, but there is a point to be made). Esra'a elaborates on who her real heroes are:

'In the meantime, while the Arab world celebrates with their guns and roses, the real heroes of the Arab and Muslim world are in Arab and Iranian prisons. Suffering for freedom. Being tortured merely for fighting for human rights… peacefully.

Kurds, Baha’is, enslaved migrants, women, peaceful student activists, Palestinians for dialogue, all accused of “Westernization” and left to rot despite their love for their countries, their true patriotism, their love for their faith, for their fellow civilians. No guns, no shitty PR, no propaganda, no funding from Israel or Iran or Syria or their bullshit governments, no religious bias, no Shiite/Sunni discrimination. Just people. Innocent. Fighting for freedom through the most powerful weapons that exist today, their pens and brains. They are forgotten in our prison cells after being arrested, tortured, or killed for speaking their minds or committing to promote regional freedom. Independently. Without American forces, Israelis, or anyone else’s support, discrediting cheap claims of their supposed “Westernization.” They got involved because they believed in themselves, and they thought that others will believe in them too.'

There does seem to be a recurring problem in Middle Eastern countries: attention is too often on opposing 'Westernization' and Israel, on the apparent conspiracy against the Muslim world. This can have the effect of diverting attention away from the inept nature of their own governments, who use such resentment to shore up their domestic reputation.

It's such a complex situation. There seem to be an endless list of factors one needs to bear in mind, and making one such analysis almost immediately falls when another factor is recalled. For example, I could state that in fact the attention of Middle Eastern citizens is not always on the West and Israel, due to protests in such places as Egypt, Bahrain and Iran against the nature of their respective governments. But then in the case of Egypt, Palestine, Jordan to name a few, the primary opposition opposes the government on the grounds that it can be too friendly with the West (i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt - though again, this is not by any means their only grievance). Indeed, one of Al-Qadea's self-proclaimed reasons for attacking the US is that it was ineffective to target Middle Eastern governments, so you target the nation which is supporting such regimes.

Perhaps an ever-expanding spider diagram is not necessary to explain the Middle East, but we should also avoid a simplification of the complex issues surrounding the region. But what must be ensured is that those voices like Esra'a are not sidelined by headlines of militant Islam, suicide bombings, the 'time horizon' for US troops in Iraq or the importance of Middle Eastern oil. I'll leave you with Esra'a, and with the thought that I never fail to be impressed by those at Middle East Youth:

'I am a Muslim, I am also an Arab, I am proud to be both. I am against Israeli and American terrorism, but against our forms of terrorism as well. I do not believe in Hezbollah, nor their violent mission, nor their self-important leader who is foolishly playing the role of a prophet. They do not represent me, nor my Islam, nor my Arab identity, they mean nothing to me, just like an American or an Israeli soldier who is guilty of killing innocent people would mean nothing to me.

People think that certain freedoms are “Western” concepts, that peaceful resistance, even though many patriotic Iranians and Arabs throughout history died for it, is a form of “Westernization.” They call me a Zionist, an infidel, a pro-American “liberal” because I believe that the Baha’is and the Kurds and the Israelis and the Sunnis and the Shiites and everyone who may be different, if even slightly, deserve equal human rights and freedom.'

P.S: As I've quoted her extensively, a link to a campaign Esra'a is involved in : Free Kareem!, an Egyptian student sentenced to four years in prison for opposing religious extremism on his blog.