Forging New Jewish and Islamic Democratic Identities

1
Forging New Jewish and Islamic Democratic
Identities

• Democracy Matters Winning the fight against
  Imperialism
• Cornel West
• Chapter 4

2
Islamic political ideals are the same as
western political ideals

• Mahmoud Mahamed Tara wrote in 1987 that the good
  society is based on 3 equalities
• Sharing of wealth (socialism)
• Sharing in political decisions (democracy)
• Lack of social classes and no discrimination
  based on color, sex, faith, or race (equal
  opportunity)

3
Not only fighters affected by war

• Rarely discussed are the politically weak and
  extremely poor inhabitants of the Middle East
• The ordinary working Israelis and Arabs and the
  Kurds and the Turks whose lives are poor and
  difficult

4
Who brought Conflict to the Middle East?

• British empire
• Cold war struggle between the Soviet empire and
  the American empire
• Central presence of American imperial support for
  Israel

5
Oil

• Main reason imperialists interested in Middle
  East, quest to secure oil led to three major
  challenges to overcome
• Arab bigotry - Need to procure oil drives a
  shameful disregard for the radically
  undemocratic character of oil-rich autocratic
  Arab regimes, who are hostile to Israels
  existence
• Justice for Palestinians - 37 year occupation of
  Palestinian lands by Israel violated
  international law and humanitarian ethics
• Security for Israelis - Guarantee of Israel
  security amongst barbaric Palestinian suicide
  bombers that murder innocent civilians is
  necessary

6
American Policies

• Must be changed for peace to be brought to the
  Middle East
• Deeply flawed planning for the postwar period in
  Iraq has resulted in chaos and continued war
  (Bush administration either did not understand
  the possibilities or did not care)
• Bush administration has shown irresponsible lack
  of commitment to regime it set up in Afghanistan
• America props up some tyrants and takes out
  others (for example, America first propped up
  Sadam Hussein and then took him out)
• America ignores Israels bad treatment of
  Palestinians and displays lack of understanding
  of Palestinian situation in designing a peace
  plan
• The result of the unprincipled US power plays
  backfire against America when they produce
  regimes hardened against us and a general
  anti-American feeling in the Middle East

7
Peace and Democracy in Middle East

• US government and public understanding must
  change to see the complexities of the Middle
  Eastern people and become aware of elite power
  plays (both Middle Easterners and Westerners)
• US must recognize extremist thinkers in Middle
  East and not support them, but instead work with
  and encourage those that support democracy

8
The Israel-Palestine situation

• American media and politics distort the truth
• It is possible to find solutions that are
  pro-Israel and pro-Palestine

9
The Jews invented the prophet found in the Bible

• Compassion to human suffering
• Kindness to strangers
• Refusal to allow power to silence justice
• Refusal to allow might to trump whats right

10
The Leaders

• Leader of Jewish people is Sharon and of
  Palestinian people is Arafat
• Neither follow Jewish principles stated on last
  page
• They are arrogant and stubborn
• Violence is escalating
• They manipulate deep fear and paranoia of their
  people to stay in power

11
Major obstacles to peace in Middle East

• Autocratic rule of Arab elites and their support
  of anti-Jewish terrorism (suicide bombers)
• Relationship and support between US and Israel
• Israeli violence towards Palestinians

12
American relationship with Israel

• Population of Israel is only 6.5 million
• Israel receives 33 percent of the entire American
  foreign aid budget (3 billion/year)
• Egypt receives 20 percent of the budget in
  payment not to attack Israel
• While the average African receives only 10
  cents/year from America, the average Israeli
  receives 500 per year
• America ranks last among the 22 wealthiest
  countries in dollars given to needy countries
  compared with GNP (gross national product) only
  0.2 percent (two tenths of one percent)
• Americas foreign aid has made Israel a military
  giant (with nuclear weapons)
• But now Israel has no peace or security
• Israel supported the most morally indefensible
  (bad) policies of the US during the cold war
  (like supporting Somozas dictatorship in
  Nicaragua, apartheid in South Africa, and juntas
  in Guatemala)

13
Some American Jews Dont Support Peace

• American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
  60,000 members and annual budget of 20 million
  supports Israel and works to support American
  candidates for Congress who support Israel and
  torpedo those who dont
• Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish
  Organizations - heads of 51 Jewish organization,
  including the largest Jewish religious groups
  but the head of this organization does not
  encourage peace with the Palestinians, but
  instead, justice and punishment.
• American Media Moguls like Mort Zuckerman (head
  of Conference of Presidents of Major American
  Jewish Organizations and owner of US News World
  Report magazine and New York Daily News
  newspaper)
• Martin Peretz, co-owner of the New Republic
  magazine, defends hard line policies towards the
  Palestinians
• Dominant Jewish voices have given up their
  history of prophetic voices to help the down
  trodden, and have embraced the support of
  evangelical Christians, who are anti-Semitic!
  Evangelical Christians believe their support for
  Israel pave the way for the second coming of
  Christ.

14
American Jews That Support Peace

• Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig criticizes
  Zionism and puts the critique of idolatry
  (idolizing land and power) at the center of his
  thought
• Albert Einstein and Leo Baeck
• The Jews that led the civil rights movement and
  fought for human rights for American blacks

15
Irony of Supporting Israel

• Americans and Jews who support Israel lead to
  another idolatrous and dangerous situation,
  funding the war being fought with US helicopter
  gunships that patrol and bomb the Palestinian
  West Bank
• One danger Israelis view America as the Jewish
  Promised Land even though Americans have deep
  anti-Semitic impulses
• Another danger American empire favors Israel
  for political and geostrategic reasons, but the
  US could abandon Israel for the same reasons if a
  different location became more of a political
  advantage
• Remember the long ugly history of Jews in the
  Diaspora Spain, Egypt, Germany living in
  false security and illusions when they supported
  imperialists who later conducted genocide against
  them
• Another danger what happens when the US must
  choose between oil and Israel?

16
Traditions

• Islamic traditions also emerge from the prophetic
  traditions that support democratic principles
• Many current Islamic writers call for the need to
  confront the Islamic traditions, including
  peace, modernity, and democracy

17
Dialogue between US and Israel

• Avoid crude clash of civilizations
• Avoid empire building and imposition of one
  culture on the other

18
To create an Islamic Democratic identity

• Create the genealogy (history) of Islamic legal
  thought, theology, mysticism, and Philosophy that
  relate to democratic principles an enormous
  task
• Counter and challenge the Islamic clerics that
  fight modern movements undermine the authority
  of the Muslim clerics on both Islamic and
  democratic grounds

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Three basic efforts that the Islamic world can do
to support democracy

• Show the Islamic conceptions of justice are
  compatible with democratic concepts of justice
• Eliminate all appeals to Islamic law. Muslim
  women support this because it does away with the
  patriarchal character of Islamic law and results
  in less rules to obey.
• Promote the writings of the Islamic leader
  Mahmoud Mahmed Taha (who was murdered in the
  Sudan for his visionary and courageous works) He
  wrote The Second Message of Islam)

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Where are the best examples of democracies today?

• Not with Americans who are mistreating Iraqis and
  arresting them by putting bags over their heads
  and performing other deeds of humiliation on
  Iraqis
• With the subjugated impoverished Palestinians and
  Iraqi and Turkish Kurds, who are the most
  democratic Muslims in the world and have
  sustained democratic practices in the face of
  atrocities and repression.

21
The Crisis of Christian Identity in America

• Democracy Matters Winning the fight against
  Imperialism
• Cornel West
• Chapter 5

22
A Threat to Democracy in the US

• Religious fundamentalists. Threat in US and in
  foreign countries
• They gained too much power in the political
  system
• They have the hearts and minds of too many
  citizens
• They have too great an influence on our
  governments policies in the Middle East
• Their actions violate the fundamental principles
  of the Constitution
• They provide support and cover for the
  imperialist aims of empire building Americans

23
The Devouring of Democracy

• Three dogmas are leading the imperial devouring
  of democracy in America
• Free market fundamentalism
• Aggressive militarism
• Escalating authoritarianism

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Christian Fundamentalists

• Christian fundamentalists subvert the following
  Christian principles
• Live with humility
• Love thy neighbor as thyself
• Do unto others as we would have them do unto us

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Battle for the soul of US Christianity

• Battle for democracy in America is also the
  battle for the soul of American Christianity
• Tolerance and openness is necessary for
  sustaining a democracy
• 80 percent Americans call themselves Christians
• The battle is echoed in the battle between
  prophetic Christianity and Constantinian
  Christianity
• Jesus taught a prophetic Christianity of love,
  humility, and kindness
• The Romans saw Jesus and Christianity as a threat
  to the authoritarianism and militarism of the
  Roman state, so they crucified Jesus.
• Later, the Roman Emperor Constantine incorporated
  Christianity into his empire and robbed it of
  prophetic fervor. He converted in AD 312. He
  decriminalized the Christian religion in the
  Edict of Milan in 313, and used Christianity to
  extend his power. He targeted some Christian
  sects for annihilation to consolidate his power.
  This corrupted the Christian faith based on
  tolerance and compassion. He established the
  terrible merger of church and state.
• Later, mergers of church and state led t barbaric
  crusades to exterminate Jews, the horrors of the
  Inquisition, and the ugly bigotry against women,
  people of color, and gays and lesbians.

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Todays Constantinian Americans

• They are unaware of their support of imperial
  American rulers
• They are sincere in their faith, but do not know
  Christian history
• They support disinvestment of urban centers,
  cutbacks in public education and health care
• They support hard-line militaristic policies of
  todays Israeli government
• They sell their souls for a bowl of imperial
  pottage
• They are not compassionate towards people of
  color so they dont do much to help the 30
  million Africans with AIDS

27
Prophetic Christians

• The most influential Americans for social justice
• These Christians have been part of the
• Abolitionist Movement
• Womens Suffrage Movement
• Trade-union Movement
• Civil Rights Movement
• They can help democracy by
• Embracing other religions and working with them
• Supporting public service
• Promoting care for the poor
• Maintaining separation of church and state
• Opposing intrusions of fundamentalist Christians

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Voices in Prophetic CHristianity

• Walter Rauschenbusch who wrote the book
  Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907)
• He wrote that Christians should fight social
  injustice and capitalist greed
• Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement
  founded in 1933 during the Great Depression to
  bring relief to the homeless and the poor
• Phillip and Daniel Berrigan founded a group of
  clergy against the Vietnam War and were
  persecuted
• Rev William Sloan Coffin, Chaplain of Yale
  University during the Vietnam War, spoke out
  strongly against that war and became president of
  the largest peace and justice organization in the
  US, SANE/FREEZE
• Martin Luther King, Jr promoted non-violent
  resistance
• David Walker was a free-born anti-slave protestor
• Black prophetic Christians (Frederick
  Douglas)remind us of prophetic Christianity

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Shortcomings of US Christians

• Vast majority of white American Christians
  supported slavery
• Free market fundamentalism makes an idol of money
• Constantinian Christians dont support separation
  of church and state

30
Other Democratic Values

• Non-Christian citizens must have the same rights
  and liberties under the law as Christian citizens
• Freedom of speech
• Tolerance for other cultures and traditions, even
  gays

31
Battle against Constantinanism

• What is necessary
• Re-empowerment of prophetic Christianity
• Question secular liberals who would not tolerate
  religious discourse radical secularism

32
Jeffrey Stout

• A secular thinker who believes that secular
  activists should join forces with prophetic
  Christians because
• They value a human being based on who he/she
  chooses to be rather than the amount of
  commodities possessed
• They support decency and integrity
• They dont support nihilism
• They are suspicious of all forms of idolatry (eg,
  worship of money)

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Rise of Constantinian Christians

• Ecumenical groups that spoke out against
  intolerance of rights of people of color,
  workers, gays lesbians, and women were targeted
• Voices of moderation were discredited
• Prophetic Christian voices were labeled liberal
• Labeled liberal seminaries as the sinful havens
  of freaks, gays, lesbians, black radicals, and
  guilty white wimps.
• Slander cowed the Christian Left and erased them
  from the political map
• Consolidation of power by aligning with
  well-organization political action groups (eg,
  the Christian Coalition and the Moral Majority)
• Support nihilism of the American Empire
• Value worldly success power, might, size,
  status, and material possessions
• In summary, commercialization of Christiantiy

34
Prophetic Christians speaking out

• Jim Wallis, who leads the activist group
  Sojourners
• Rev James Forbes, Riverside Church in New York
  City
• Sujay Johnson Cook of the Hampton Preachers
  Conference
• Rev Charles Adams of Hartford Memorial Church in
  Detroit,
• Rev Jeremiah Wright of Trinity Church in Chicago
• Quite a few more

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Democracy matters require that we remember to

• Fight bigotry, especially when racist propaganda
  is combined with nihilistic quests for power and
  might
• Strive for moral consistency and ethical
  integrity
• Love wisdom, love justice, love freedom
• Live dangerously, honestly, freely