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Title: Against Colonialism and fundamentalism Author: Mazen Kamalmaz Date: 2008 Language: en Topics: colonialism, Islam, racism, religion Source: Retrieved on December 21, 2009 from http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=8555
It is a big question for us, Muslims who consider freedom as our main
aim or our main principle of life, where we stand in the conflict
between what can be defined as neo-colonialist policies of the
capitalist west and Islamic fundamentalism. In brief, my answer is that
I think we must stick to our main principle: that is freedom, away from
both.
No doubt that we would not accept, under any excuse, any violation or
denial of the freedom of thought, consciousness and speech; let it be
against muslims or any other groups. But this position will change at
the same moment that such a criticism becomes a justification of
occupation or racism.
It is clear that those cartoons, about prophet Mohammad, tells more than
just a simple and just criticism of brutal and intolerant Islamic
fundamentalism; in fact, this is a part of a broader campaign that aims
to confirm that Muslims are backward people; and to justify that
colonialism is a necessary project designed to civilize these people;
which in a way, resembles “God supports segregation” that could be seen
in US and South Africa’s streets before the triumph of the human rights
movement.
It is not surprising that such an argument was repeated also by Bush’s
administration. People in the west, like anywhere else, are ready to
defend their freedom more than the profits or greed of capital.
On the other side, fundamentalists promote denial of others’ basic
liberties, non-Muslims and even Muslims, as a prerequisite of resisting
neo-colonialism. Totally the contrary, the antidote of colonialism is
freedom, not a reactionary repression. Defending the freedom of speech
or press is not equal to supporting the Iraq war or occupation, or
neo-colonialism, which badly needs such racist arguments as its basic
justification. It is also right that resisting this colonialism does not
mean imposing Islamic religious dogmas on others.