In a report that won't be news to most Muslims, Amnesty
International released a report this month outlining the dramatic
increase in racial profiling since the September 11th terrorist
attacks. The year-long study documented the numerous contexts (while
driving, while shopping) and pointed out (correctly) the lack of
progress or efficacy in stemming or preventing any more terrorism than
before (hello Johnny, Richard and Jose), while clogging the system with
records of innocent people routinely requestioned at airports. But the
connection that dare not speak its name is still there - namely the
high profile association global terrorism has to Islam (despite the
infinitesimal proportion of Muslims involved). And after last week's
horror in Beslan, some journalists and intellectuals in the Muslim and
Arab worlds have had enough. “It is a certain fact that not all Muslims
are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful,
that almost all terrorists are Muslims,” said Abdel Rahman al-Rashed,
general manager of Al-Arabiyya television. Despite such observations
being lauded by the more histrionic of commentators, many acts of
terror have scraped so far down the bottom of the barrel that a
soul-searching is starting to take place. "Recent editorials in
major newspapers and commentaries by prominent leaders have criticized
the morality and political efficacy of the continuing wanton violence
in Iraq, Palestine, and even Chechnya," notes the Arab American
Institute's James Zogby. "Critics on both sides of the divide can and
should recognize each other’s efforts and work to reinforce one
another." [more]
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