Reaction Against The Movie – Is It Only Against The Movie?

The whole world has been witnessing an intense debate on the violent protests in the Muslim world against America on the issue of the film against Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him). The US administration’s immediate reaction was total condemnation of the attack on American embassy and the death of Americans; as always it threatened to bring the culprits to “justice”. Justice in American terminology almost always means violent reprisals hugely disproportionate to the original act, which can lead to widespread destructions, changes of regimes and massive loss of human life.
In recent days however, there have been more sober voices and the US administration seems to have realised the anger of Muslims. There have been efforts to totally dissociate from the movie, total rejection of the motives behind the movie and attempt of nabbing the persons involved in the production of the movie. However, still, the main focus is on the nature of the Muslim reaction and an attempt to paint it as totally unjustified.
All the rightly-minded Muslims have appealed for peace and spoken against the violence. But at the same time, they have been challenging the kind of interpretations of “freedom of speech” that are being promoted by the western media. They have been able to highlight the fact that when it comes to western interests, “freedom of speech” is conveniently forgotten. Denying holocaust is a serious punishable crime in most of the western countries and critics of west and America find hard to get visa for even academic visits.
The purpose of this writing however is not to discuss the concept of “freedom of speech”. What I want to point out is that in the midst of the whole debate, what is being missed is that the Muslim anger is not just limited to the anger against the film. There is a clear indication that this anger is directed against America and its policies towards Muslims. The film has only provided them an opportunity to vent their anger, which had been boiling in their minds for years.
It can be easily seen that the protests have been more widespread in the countries that have been the victims of American intervention in one way or the other in recent past. Libya took the lead where NATO used military power to change the regime. In Egypt, America did everything to influence the events and tried to contain the emergence of Islamic groups. The same is true of Tunisia. In Yemen, too, America has been playing an active role, which is perceived negatively by the masses.
And of course, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq remain the worst victims of American designs of hegemony. Lebanon and Iran are two other countries where anti-American sentiments are on the higher side. These are exactly the countries where the protests have been most widespread, vocal and often violent. India, with a population of around 20 millions, has remained peaceful. Bangladesh and Indonesia, the other two most populous countries, have witnessed protests but in terms of intensity they were nowhere near the Arab countries and Pakistan. Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arab, Kuwait – all these countries have remained largely peaceful.
The message is clear. The west led by the US has to revise its policy towards Islam and Muslim countries. America must learn to respect Islamic ideology, Islamic concepts, Muslim lives and the sovereignty and independence of Muslim countries. Before telling Muslims not to react violently, it has to examine its own record. When the west reacts in response to 9/11 declaring within minutes that it was the handiwork of Muslims, never bothering even to conduct an independent conclusive inquiry, not responding to then Afghan government’s demand to show the proof, then turning a whole country to ruins, then attacking another country, killing in all more than 2 million people to take revenge for 3000 people, this reaction is justified by the international institutions. If Muslims react angrily to an insult against their Prophet, they become worst criminals. This is high time the debate focused not on Muslim behaviour but on America’s behaviour.
There should be an international debate on the behaviour of the west in general and America in particular towards all international issues with particular focus on their behaviour towards Islam and Muslims. If the west has to live peacefully and let others live peacefully, they have to let this debate take place without bias. The west needs to re-examine its whole approach and must learn to behave sensible with the Muslim world. Muslims can no longer be threatened with force, invasions and changes of regimes. They must be allowed to choose their own course of action. Muslims on their part must learn to play a more aggressive role in the international affairs, and only through peaceful ways.