The lazy argument that the Iraq war and the occupation of Palestine are explanations for terrorism draws on Orientalist images. According to the Livingstone-Pilger-Galloway argument Muslims are being oppressed as a result of Western policies, and suicide bombings, kidnappings and car bombs are the result. Change those policies and the violence will stop. This draws on images of Muslims being violent people and Islam being a religion that justifies it. For them Muslims are represented by the terrorist with a suicide belt or a bomb in a rucksack. We need to oppose this arrogance that says that the suicide bomber is the face of Islamic opposition to the Iraq war or resistance to the occupation of Palestine. The representatives of the Iraqi people are not the gangs who kill, kidnap and rape but the (mainly) Islamic government they elected. Palestinians are not represented by those who bomb buses, malls, clubs and restaurants but by a government that wants to negotiate the end of occupation. The politicians and others who continue to drink from this Orientalist poisoned well fuel racism and division at a time when we need to strengthen a diverse democratic movement to isolate terrorism.
|
