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The Free-Speech Challenge

Posted May 23rd, 2016 by Lesley Hazleton

garyonash2Here’s a book I’m looking forward to reading.  I think.  It’s a book I know will excite me, infuriate me, challenge me, provoke me, and have me scrawling an enthusiastic ‘yes!’ or a bad-tempered  ‘no!’ in the margins of practically every page.  And very often both on the same page.

It’s a book, that is, on free speech.

I can think of few people more qualified to write such a book than Timothy Garton Ash, whose dispatches and commentary on political repression appear regularly in The New York Review of Books and The Guardian.  And I love the idea of him drawing up ten free-speech commandments — or rather, per his subtitle, “his ten principles for a connected world.”

Here they are:

1. We — all human beings — must be free and able to express ourselves, and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, regardless of frontiers.

2. We neither make threats of violence nor accept violent intimidation.

3. We allow no taboos against and seize every chance for the spread of knowledge.

4. We require uncensored, diverse, trustworthy media so we can make well-informed decisions and participate fully in political life.

5. We express ourselves openly and with robust civility about all kinds of human difference.

6. We respect the believer but not necessarily the content of the belief.

7. We must be able to protect our privacy and to counter slurs on our reputations, but not prevent scrutiny that is in the public interest.

8. We must be empowered to challenge all limits to freedom of information justified on such grounds as national security.

9. We defend the Internet and other systems of communication against illegitimate encroachments by both public and private powers.

10. We decide for ourselves and face the consequences.

That all sounded great until I read it through a second time.  And realized that the one that stumps me is #6.  Really?  Respect anti-Semites and Islamophobes and racists and sexists and pry-my-gun-from-my-cold-dead-hands shmucks of all stripes?  I can understand them — that is, I can put myself in their shoes and figure out why and how they came to be such shmucks.   But understanding, at least for me, does not necessarily entail respect.

Perhaps Garton Ash will persuade me otherwise (I have the book on order, so am only working off this New York Times article), but as with most people, it takes quite a bit for me to be persuaded to change a treasured stance.

Which means that #4 is not exactly a non-stumper either.  In an ideal world, maybe.  But “trustworthy” is a matter of preexisting opinion.  There are hordes of people who consider Fox News trustworthy.  Others, like me, consider the NYT trustworthy (for the most part, and with significant exceptions such as its coverage of Palestine).  A terrifying number of people once considered Pravda and Der Sturmer to be trustworthy.  The news sources you trust are likely more a reflection of your preexisting opinions than of any objective measure of reliability or — that ever-elusive ideal — “truth.”

And then, now I think on it, #5 also stumps me somewhat.  I’m assuming that the book will define “robust civility” — I like the concept, since civility too often has an aura of mild-manneredness, and the idea needs some guts.  In fact I’d like to see Garton Ash write a manifesto just on that.

Of course his new book is already attracting detractors.  Some of them are quoted in the NYT piece , which, since flames always lead, begins with his idea that other newspapers should have united to reprint the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of Muhammad.   I get the idea — solidarity in the face of intimidation and terrorism — but wouldn’t it have been a perfect example of the tail wagging the dog?  Of otherwise respectable media giving in to what Glenn Greenwald calls emotional blackmail?

Despite such caveats, I generally admire Garton Ash’s writing.  But I’m more stumped by his ten commandments than I thought I would be.  The more I look at them, the more vaguely idealistic they seem.

But then Garton Ash is no vague idealist.  And of course, I haven’t read the book yet.  And since it’s not due out until tomorrow, and is a somewhat daunting 491 pages long, I’m assuming that neither have the detractors cited in the NYT.

Could it be that criticizing a book you haven’t yet read is precisely part of the problem?

———–

[Update to come when I’ve read it!]

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File under: existence, media | Tagged: Tags: "safe spaces", Charlie Hebdo, free speech, freedom of information, Glenn Greenwald, Internet, Timothy Garton Ash, trigger warnings | Be the First to leave a comment

Muhammad’s Tears

Posted January 12th, 2015 by Lesley Hazleton

The cover of this week’s Charlie Hebdo leaves me speechless, in a good way.  And in tears too.  (And yes, it is indeed deeply Islamic in spirit.)

o-CHARLIE-COVER-570

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File under: Islam, light, sanity | Tagged: Tags: Charlie Hebdo, cover, Je Suis Charlie, Muhammad, Paris | 15 Comments
  1. Nuzhat says:
    January 12, 2015 at 7:11 pm

    That’s the fittest reply expected….
    Despite the calumny of depiction, the spirit of its presentation should be into account. Muslims should salute this one….
    Awesome!!

  2. Sohail Kizilbash says:
    January 13, 2015 at 1:49 am

    How many people cried when these sick Taliban shot and burned 124 young students and teachers in Peshawar last month. I think our tears are also selective.

    • severthetwilight says:
      January 17, 2015 at 4:11 am

      Some of us did cry for those students and teachers in Peshawar…and for the café manager and customer who were shot in Sydney…and again for the staff assassinated at Hebdo.

      Some even cried harder when people stood up and said (in essence), ‘This stops now. We will not be cowed by the Taliban, or ISIS or anyone who would use their faith to destroy innocent lives.’

  3. Levent says:
    January 13, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    A strong Light.

    Yesterday I found a video from you on the web about Islam.
    I searched for other video’s.

    I am impressed about your way of thinking.

    it’s not your topic that attracted me but the way you see it, the way you aproche it, and how you phrase it.

    I believe that all beings are part of the Light.
    Th same Light who created the Big Bang, the same Light that created the first atoms in the belly of the stars, the same Light that made life as we know possible on earth.
    As Light is our source, we are attracted by it.
    As there are stars who radiate more light then other stars,
    Some humans radiate more Light then others (as is above so is below)
    And vary rarely there were and are and will be people who shine like a star (Mozes, Jesus, Mohamed, Boedha, Gandi, Marten l King,…)

    Light can bring love, understanding, awareness,…
    Light can ‘open’ eyes.
    As written in the Bible, Jesus’ (Light) made a blindman ‘see’.

    Ms. Hazleton, you are a strong Light. Keep on radiating.
    Thanks to you people can perhabs see better, further, wider, deeper,…

    Regards
    Levent Guney

    Ps. Love your idea of ‘doubt’

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      January 13, 2015 at 4:56 pm

      I can only say Thank you…

  4. Dr B Ravinder Reddy says:
    January 14, 2015 at 2:11 am

    No religion preaches violence. It is the misguided elements who bring a bad name and reputation to their respective religions, due to their misunderstood beliefs!

  5. Lesley Hazleton says:
    January 16, 2015 at 11:49 am

    This comment appears to have been dropped by WordPress — I have no idea why, but it happens, as it does on Facebook — but the writer emailed me about it, so am taking the liberty of printing it here together with my reply:

    Dear Lesley,
    Did you read the comment in Time magazine saying that the
    “Editor-in-chief Gérard Biard, who made their intent clear on a French radio program saying: “It is we who forgive, not Muhammad,” referring to the speculation by some that the cover was a message about the paper being forgiven for publishing an image of the Prophet, an act that many Islamic leaders deem sacrilegious.”
    It was quite a misleading cover, and could harbour unwarranted repercussions. Hope sanity prevails on both sides.

    My reply:
    That’s the thing with art, high or (as in this case) low — the viewer reads into it, and it is (as are words) always open to multiple readings. Perhaps we each choose the reading we want.
    And there are so many ways of reading.
    I never thought the cover meant that the editors were saying that Muhammad was forgiving them — rather that first, forgiveness was central to Islam, and second, that they forgave. How sincere this was on their part is of course another question. But since I believe it to be true that Muhammad would indeed be in tears at all this, I went with that first meaning.
    There are other levels of meaning I can think of. One that occurred to me was that the surviving cartoonists, being a left-wing intellectual crowd despite their affinity for the childishly grotesque, were thinking of the last line of The Myth of Sisyphus (by that French Algerian, Camus) — “Il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux” — and from there arrived at “Mahomet malheureux.”

  6. Wahab says:
    January 17, 2015 at 2:45 am

    Professor Hazleton, I have been visiting your blog on and off, but I just want to thank you. I was a little ashamed when I saw your video ‘on reading the quran’ because you appeared to experience the book in a manner that I (as a muslim) had not done. I also read your biography of the prophet (pbuh) in a single day, because it give me a more meaningful connection with his personality.

    I also share your idea of doubt, because I read somewhere (i think in the works of Rumi) that doubt and faith are like two wings that keep the bird in the air and if either one is missing, the bird cannot fly.

    Keeping that in mind, Im not sure if youve heard of the man, but you would find great pleasure in reading books my Imam Al-Ghazzali. He was one of the giants of Islam and his influence on christianity is also tremendous. He also chose the ways of skepticism and doubt. Im sure you would find great pleasure in reading the following books:

    1) Deliverance from error
    2) Niche for lights

    Lastly. Keep up the good work 🙂

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      January 17, 2015 at 8:43 am

      Thank you. I met a dear friend at a coffee shop the other day. I was carrying a novel by Ali Smith; she was carrying al-Ghazzali. We had a wonderful conversation about the difference between artificial light and natural light.

  7. şule says:
    February 13, 2015 at 11:37 am

    mrs hazleten ı am a medical student and ı read your books and watch your videos . ı dont know how should ı say but did you heard anythıng about asa-ı musa book from risaleinur collection.ALso in there there is something about agnostizm .ı thınk thıs is valuable to think in a different side.ı know ıt ıs not my business but just a suggestion and ıam thinking for a months about it

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      March 2, 2015 at 1:10 pm

      Thank you. I’m currently working on the last chapter of an agnostic manifesto, to be published in early 2016.

  8. hirafaraz says:
    February 26, 2015 at 11:47 pm

    Hello Prof Hazleton,
    I don’t know from where to start. I can’t speak on behalf of the Muslim population here in Pakistan but I’m sure there are quite a number who will agree with me.
    As Wahab said, faith and doubt goes hand in hand with each other. And yes, I do have doubts. And by searching for answers, it leads me to faith, closer with every search.

    Your book, The First Muslim, opened a sacred door inside me. Before reading this, to be honest, I really didn’t knew Muhammad. Here, in our textbooks and our grandmothers` stories, Muhammad is being pictured as an Angel rather than a human. So we cannot relate to him like we do with another fellow human. We couldn’t feel his pain, neither we could see the essence of his life as a man, prophet and a leader. But thanks to your words, I finally met him, as a human above all. 🙂

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      March 2, 2015 at 1:08 pm

      I am humbled, privileged, and grateful. Thank you.

  9. Aterah Nusrat says:
    May 2, 2015 at 2:30 pm

    Dear Professor Hazleton,

    I have only recently come across your work, and have just ordered your two books (The First Muslim and After the Prophet). As a British born Muslim, I initially retreated from Islam in my youth, and engaged with eastern enlightenment teachings and meditation. I’m now circling back to Islam to review my inherited religion and integrate the different paths of understanding and experience that I’ve now accumulated.

    I am curious to know whether you have explored/engaged with any thinkers that take an ‘integral’ perspective on religion/spirituality. I’m thinking of the likes of integral philosopher, Ken Wilber and Steve McIntosh? McIntosh recently published a paper, entitled “Fostering Evolution in Islamic Culture.”

    I am looking forward to diving into your books.
    Best Regards
    Aterah

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      May 6, 2015 at 5:47 pm

      Thanks, Aterah — will check them out. — L.

The Real Muslim Rage

Posted September 23rd, 2012 by Lesley Hazleton

Oh what a bandwagon that noxious little anti-Islamic video has set in motion.  There seems to be no end of people eager to hop on it for personal and political gain, no matter how many lives it costs.

There’s Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, reeling from backlash against his support of Bashar al-Assad’s ongoing massacre of Syrian civilians.  What a perfect opportunity to deflect criticism by calling for more and larger protests — not against the Syrian regime, but against America, in the name of “defending the Prophet.” Except that’s not what he’s doing. To cite the headline of Nick Kristof’s NYT column today, he’s exploiting the Prophet.

There’s Ayaan Hirsi Ali, she of the soft voice and the compelling back story, who just can’t stop talking about what she calls “the Muslim mentality.” (Pop quiz:  if someone who generalizes about a stereotyped “Jewish mentality” is an anti-Semite, what’s someone who generalizes about a stereotyped “Muslim mentality”?  Click here if you don’t know.)  Hirsi Ali told her story yet again in Newsweek‘s “Muslim Rage” issue (to which the best answer was the often hilarious #MuslimRage meme on Twitter).  Strange to think that the rapidly failing Newsweek was once a reputable publication.

There’s the sophomoric French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, whose idea of cutting-edge humor is cartoons of politicians with their pants down around the ankles.  This week they ran similar cartoons of Muhammad in order to inject some life into their plumetting circulation by creating controversy.  Oh, and as a beacon of free speech, of course.

There’s Pakistan’s Minister of Railways — the man responsible for the system’s chronic debt, constant strikes, and devastating crashes. What better way to distract people from his total failure than to make himself out to be a “defender of Islam” by offering a $100,000 bounty for the life of the director of that inane video?  There’s nothing quite like incitement to murder to cover up your own corruption.

There’s more — there’s always more of such people, including of course the miserable little bigots who made the video in the first place —  but that’ll do for now. Because none of this reflects the real Muslim rage:  the palpable outrage not only at the killing of Ambassador Stevens, but also at the blatant attempt of Islamic extremists (and their Islamophobic counterparts) to hijack Islam.

Listen, for instance, to Egyptian activist Mahmoud Salem, aka Sandmonkey, who was one of the voices of 2011’s “Arab spring” in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.  Violent protests over the video are “more damaging to Islam’s reputation than a thousand so-called ‘Islam-attacking’ films,” he writes, and calls on Egyptians to condemn Islamic fundamentalists as “a bunch of shrill, patriarchal, misogynistic, violent extremists who are using Islam as a cover” for political ambition.

Twitter is spilling over with similar protests and disgust from Muslims all over the world at the way the “defenders of Islam” are destroying it from within.  And this disgust was acted on in Benghazi on Friday when 50,000 Libyans marched to demand the disarming of the extremist militias suspected of attacking the US consular buildings, then stormed the headquarters of two of the biggest militias and forced them out of town.  Two other Islamist militias instantly disbanded.  Yes, if you unite, you can face down the thugs, even well-armed ones.  This, of course, is not something you’ll see on the cover of Newsweek.

As Libyans, Egyptians, Tunisians, Yemenis, and with especial pain, Syrians know, the “Arab spring” is not a matter of a single season.  The moniker itself is a product of Western media shorthand, of the desire to label a “story” and assign it a neat, self-contained timeline.  But this was no mere story for the people living it.  It was and still is the beginning of a long process.  But one that once begun, cannot be undone.

All over the Middle East, real voices are making themselves heard, unmediated by government control whether in the name of “security” or of an extremist travesty of Islam.

And this is surely the real manifestation of that much abused principle:  freedom of expression.

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File under: fundamentalism, Islam, Middle East, sanity | Tagged: Tags: anti-Islam video, Arab spring, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Benghazi, Charlie Hebdo, Egypt, Hassan Nasrallah, Libya, militias, Newsweek, outrage, Pakistan, Sandmonkey, Syria, Tunisia | 14 Comments
  1. anon says:
    September 23, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    when CNN uses Ambassador Stevens diary—“free-speech” goes out the window. Anything embarrassing to the U.S. government or military and there is no free-speech—-anything insulting to Muslims—and “free-speech” suddenly becomes important to Americans!!!!

    By the way—Muslim-minority countries are also allowing protests in their countries—seems “anti-americanism” isn’t confined to Muslim-Majority countries alone……

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      September 23, 2012 at 6:53 pm

      Stealing and using anyone’s private diary sounds Murdoch-sleazy to me. Can’t see that it has anything to do with free speech. And as for “allowing” protests, doesn’t that word “allowing” tell you something?

      • anon says:
        September 29, 2012 at 2:13 am

        “sound Murdoch-sleazy to me”—that is exactly my point—Americans may “claim” free-speech”—but it DOES have boundaries—some things are just not acceptable—because they are “sleezy” or unpatriotic, or….etc……There were U.S. muslim students who were arrested because they protested a speech by Israeli ambassador, there was a Judge who banned hateful protests at funerals of American soldiers……

        people in different parts of the world have sensibilities that may be different from an American criteria—for example, in some countries in Asia—speech defaming the monarchy is against the law…..We have to be able to respect each others differences……….Non-Americans need to understand that America has its own criteria—and Americans need to understand that non-Americans also have their own criteria…..

        “Allowing protests”—yes, for much of the rest of the world “freedoms” are still very much a “work-in-progress”—even in the democracies of Asia.

        (by the way—I do agree that moderate/mainstream muslims MUST counter the narrow, extremist ideology that encourages violence)

        • Lesley Hazleton says:
          September 29, 2012 at 10:44 am

          You get the difference, though, between what’s acceptable and what’s legal in the US. Expressions of antisemitism and racism are legal, but no longer acceptable in the mainstream. I’m convinced that this will happen too with Islamophobia — i.e. it will be marginalized. The hard thing is that it takes time, and as you say, understanding that we all need to speak out against extremist ideologies and hatred on all sides. Freedom of expression is a terrifically tough concept to get one’s mind around — I still have great difficulty with it, and sometimes find myself raging against the American Civil Liberties Union. But I send my check to the ACLU nonetheless, because next time round, it could be me whose freedom of expression is being threatened.

  2. naveed says:
    September 23, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    You have correctly pointed out people who have cashed in on ‘muslim rage’ but these are not the real reasons for the rage. From one who is enraged: May I give the real reason for my rage? The American support to its stooges in Muslim countries, the mechanisms of regime change in Muslim countries and the American occupation of Muslim countries are the reasons for ‘Muslim Rage’

  3. Emad Yawer says:
    September 25, 2012 at 11:48 pm

    If the US and Europe so keen on free speech, whay I can not USE the Swastica, WHY I can not critisize ANY jew, jewish thing or deny the Holocost took place, WHY there is so many restrictions on what they call “HATE” , but it is all different against Islam?????????

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      September 27, 2012 at 10:28 am

      I don’t know where you live, but the fact is that in most of the world, you can. And in many parts of the Middle East, antisemitic cartoons, images etc are common in school textbooks and newspapers. As I’ve written here before, antisemitism and Islamophobia are mirror images — actually, twinned images — which makes it all the more miserably absurd when there are Muslims who are antisemitic, and Jews who are Islamophobic.

  4. Sohail Kizilbash says:
    September 26, 2012 at 4:52 pm

    Look Guys, lets us not be naive and banal. USA is THE superpower and she has to do a lot of things to maintain that status. If you don’t like it, you can lump it. Having said that, I don’t know of any other country where people are more free and freedom comes at a price. I totally agree with a Muslim who appeared on the TV a few day ago who said that the best country to practice Islam, is the USA.

    • Naveed says:
      September 30, 2012 at 10:51 am

      You are right USA is THE superpower. Dont forget that not too long ago Britain and then USSR were superpowers. Dont lose sight of the fact that in less than five years China will be a Superpower. Scientific and technological development can neither be halted nor contained sooner or later small countries and even stateless groups will accquire yet to be invented weapons of mass destruction. The survival of mankind depends on realizing that there can be no prosperity without peace and there can be no peace without justice.

      • Sohail Kizilbash says:
        September 30, 2012 at 2:48 pm

        Absolutely no argument there, Naveed. The seeds of destruction are embedded in the fabric of an empire. All empires, until now, have degenerated into dictatorships, arrogance, conceit, intolerance, superiority complex and gone into a comfort zone, bringing about their demise. Hopefully this will not happen to the USA as it adapts to changing times. See the change from a slave owning society, to a country where a half black is President. Now people proudly declare that they have native blood. One has to live in the USA and read history to see the change. The self critical nature of the Americans is one of their biggest strength.That is just my humble opinion.

        • naveed says:
          October 1, 2012 at 4:35 am

          Very well written Sohail. I had the privilege of living and working in USA as an alien resident for several years. I whole heartedly agree that America is a great country; the vast majority of Americans are forthright, honest and fair-minded people. We in the third world owe America and Europe a huge debt of gratitude for the benefits of science and technology. Unfortunately Americans are themselves the victims of a foreign policy influenced by lobbies whose allegiance lies outside its shores. For the sake of people of America and the people of the world. For the sake of peace on earth, we can only hope and pray that the future leaders of America will be great people like Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin, people who would base their decisions on principles of right and wrong rather than on opinion polls, oil money and directives of foreign lobbies. Kissinger said “ Real politick not a moralistic approach to foreign policy would best serve American interests” ( perhaps he really meant Israeli interests ) Americans are being led by neo-cons and evangelists who base their foreign policy on biblical prophesies.

          • Sohail Kizilbash says:
            October 1, 2012 at 7:36 am

            Alas. Sometimes the tail wags the dog.

  5. Sohail Kizilbash says:
    September 26, 2012 at 4:54 pm

    By the way Lesley, if you are on the FB you might enjoy the comments on my recent posts on this issue.

  6. irfan says:
    October 1, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    .hope the peaceful message will get more support

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Blasphemy-in-Islam-The-Quran-does-not-prescribe-punishment-for-abusing-the-Prophet/articleshow/16631496.cms

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