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The turban 'scandal' and Obama!


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The turban 'scandal' and Obama!

Topic started by zeemax on Feb 29, 2008 10:36:58 pm


It's no slur to be called a Muslim

The turban photos affair was a missed chance for Obama. If he really is to repair the world, he must tackle this Islamophobia.

Hillary Clinton denied leaking the photo of Barack Obama wearing a turban, but her campaign manager says that even if she had, it would be no big deal. "Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely."

Sure she did. And George Bush put on a poncho in Santiago, while Paul Wolfowitz burned up YouTube with his anti-malarial African dance routines while World Bank president. The obvious difference is this: when white politicians go ethnic, they look funny; when a black presidential contender does it, he looks foreign - and when the ethnic apparel in question is vaguely reminiscent of the clothing worn by Iraqi and Afghan fighters (at least to many Fox viewers, who think any headdress other than a baseball cap is a declaration of war on America), the image is downright frightening.

The turban "scandal" is all part of what is being referred to as "the Muslim smear". It includes everything from exaggerated enunciations of Obama's middle name (Hussein) to the online whisper campaign that Obama attended a fundamentalist madrasa in Indonesia (a lie), was sworn in on a Qur'an (another lie), and if elected would attach speakers to the White House to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer (I made that one up).

So far Obama's campaign has responded with aggressive corrections that tout his Christian faith, attack the attackers and channel a cooperative witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee. "Barack has never been a Muslim or practised any other faith besides Christianity," states one fact sheet. "I'm not and never have been of the Muslim faith," Obama told a Christian News reporter.

Of course Obama must correct the record, but he doesn't have to stop there. What is disturbing about the campaign's response is that it leaves unchallenged the disgraceful and racist premise behind the entire "Muslim smear": that being Muslim is de facto a source of shame. Obama's supporters often say they are being "Swift-boated" (a pejorative term derived from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against the 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry), casually accepting the idea that being accused of Muslimhood is tantamount to being accused of treason.

Substitute another faith or ethnicity, and you'd expect a very different response. Consider a report from the archives of the Nation. Thirteen years ago Daniel Singer, the magazine's late Europe correspondent, went to Poland to cover a presidential election. He reported that the race had descended into an ugly debate over whether one of the candidates, Aleksander Kwasniewski, was a closet Jew. The press claimed his mother was buried in a Jewish cemetery (she was still alive), and a popular TV show aired a skit featuring the Christian candidate dressed as a Hassidic Jew. "What perturbed me," Singer said, "was that Kwasniewski's lawyers threatened to sue for slander rather than press for an indictment under the law condemning racist propaganda".

We should expect no less of the Obama campaign. When asked during the Ohio debate about Louis Farrakhan's support for his candidacy, Obama did not hesitate to call Farrakhan's antisemitic comments "unacceptable and reprehensible". When the turban photo flap came up in the same debate, he used the occasion to say nothing at all.

Farrakhan's infamous comments about Jews took place 24 years ago. The orgy of hate that is the "Muslim smear" is unfolding in real time, and it promises to greatly intensify in a general election. These attacks do not simply "smear Barack's Christian faith", as John Kerry claimed in a campaign mailing. They are an attack on all Muslims, some of whom actually do exercise their rights to cover their heads and send their kids to religious school. Thousands even have the very common name Hussein. All are watching their culture used as a crude bludgeon against Obama, while the candidate who is the symbol of racial harmony fails to defend them - this at a time when US Muslims are bearing the brunt of the Bush administration's assaults on civil liberties, including dragnet wiretapping, and are facing a documented spike in hate crimes.

Occasionally, though not nearly enough, Obama says that Muslims are "deserving of respect and dignity". What he has never done is what Singer called for in Poland: denounce the attacks themselves as racist propaganda, in this case against Muslims.

The core of Obama's candidacy is that he alone - having lived in Indonesia as a boy and with an African grandmother - can "repair the world" after the Bush wrecking ball. That repair job begins with the 1.4 billion Muslims around the world, many convinced that the US has been waging a war against their faith. This perception is based on facts, among them the fact that Muslim civilians are not counted among the dead in Iraq and Afghanistan; that Islam has been desecrated in US-run prisons; and that voting for an Islamist party resulted in collective punishment in Gaza. It is also fuelled by the rise of a virulent strain of Islamophobia in Europe and North America.

As the most visible target of this rising racism, Obama has the power to be more than its victim. He can use the attacks to begin the very process of global repair that is the most seductive promise of his campaign. The next time he's asked about his alleged Muslimness, Obama can respond not just by clarifying the facts but by turning the tables. He can state that while a liaison with a pharmaceutical lobbyist may be worthy of scandalised exposure, being a Muslim is not. Changing the terms of the debate this way is not only morally just but tactically smart - it's the one response that could defuse these hateful attacks. The best part is this: unlike ending the Iraq war and closing Guantánamo, standing up to Islamophobia doesn't need to wait until after the election. Obama can use his campaign to start now. Let the repairing begin.

Guardi an


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 7:54:00 pm

Post by hamza_yusufzai,

Thanks for the fair remark. I fully acknowledge the legitimate vote bank of the party as well as the work done by Mustafa Kemal. I don't think the establishment will initiate anything, but it appears Pir Saheb doesn't want to give up Karachi's control by hook or by crook.

I really think MQM supporters should demand a change in leadership of their party. No one in the rest of the country trusts people like Altaf Hussain, Imran Farooq, Ishrat-ul-Ibad, Haider Abbas Rizvi etc. Without these people, I honestly believe MQM will get a LOT more support EVEN in Punjab. These are the black sheep who bring a bad name to Karachi and its residents.


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Post by hamza_yusufzai on Mar 1, 2008 7:35:46 pm

Every time i hear him ...i get embarrassed that he represents my city..its like hearing a really really mad teen dabbay wala..soo i avoid it as muh as humanly possible..i will tell u this though...i know for a fact that the inner circles of MQM have told this 2 kullo shareef that they will bounce back from may 12th because of enormous work by mustafa kaml...but we r still on thin ice n the ppl of khi r not going to put up with the shenningans of 90'ss....having said that if the estab. tried to make us the next enemy by replacing FATA than all bets r off...if MQM instigates it than ..it will hurt thier vote bank in khi


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 7:25:00 pm

Post by hamza_yusufzai,

Okay Qibla, kauaransh baja laata hoon. Serious question:

Do you see a repeat of the 90s if MQM is not included in the new Sindh Govt by PPP? Consider Pir Saheb's open threats exhorting MQM women workers to prepare to manage 90 Azizabad (HQ) while MQM men go underground?

Did you hear that telephone speech at all?


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Post by hamza_yusufzai on Mar 1, 2008 2:51:26 pm

U r realy not very familiar with khi politics of 90's n this isnt to brag because i think it was a mindless carnage just like the one going on in FATA...but for every MQM karkun that PSF took out... MQM killed 3....all the DSP's and sho's who were notorious for killing MQM workers were met with 'accidents' in the past 5 years..EACH and EVERY ONE OF THEM...except shoaib suddell....wat MQM couldnt fight with was ARMY...n very few really can...the lesson learnt was that u dont fukk with us n we dont fukk with u..thats why the same Army that were telling the nation that MQM is making jinnah poor..7 years later were courting the same peer kullo shareef


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Post by hamza_yusufzai on Mar 1, 2008 2:37:28 pm

who fukked who is a coin flip really...u get a hard on when u heard irfan bahadur, cahudhry sarwar and zeeshan kazmi drilled holes in human beings..however when the tide turned most them are occupants of Gora Qabrustan...n MQM sat pretty in governor house with the entire province of sind at its mercy for the last 5 years. Would u say musharaf is fukking the tribals now? See this is where the hate comes in....MQM isnt any more or less anti-state than Taliban, ANP or JSQM but u hate MQM and mohajirs with extra verve because the only qaum punjabis really have 2 be threatened by r urdu speaking....

i dont endorse it but believe me i get it. My point is this if democracy is going to flourish in Pakistan than we can not deny the mandate of the people just because we dont like one party...i told u that i have no doubt MQM rigged but if 0% rigging had taken place ...chaudhry salim zia still couldnt win from azizabad...if u want 2 marginalize MQM than tell nawaz sharif to help make policies that r pro provincial autonomy and when if state leashes its brutality in our neighborhoods like it did in 90's than speak out against that oppression as well...we like imran but wat we hate is selective morality.


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 8:53:53 am

... and yes ... ..it may be disastrous strategy to not recognize the vote bank of MQM only in MQM mind because of their badmaashi (listen to Pir Saheb's rtecent threats). Benazir and Naseerullah Babar fcked that votebank in 1994-5 and now these beygharats are again looking towards PPP for a coalition Govt with them in it, when PPP doesn't need them at all and keeps rebuffing their overtures 8-|


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 8:49:48 am

Post by hamza_yusufzai,

Haleem Siddiqui is Punjabi? Now Bhai Saheb ... you're spreading it a bit too thin. Siddiquis are Punjabis :? I was married to a Siddiqui and she never told me :D

..he won from the constituency thats primarily punjabi speaking.

He won from NA-250 which stretches from Keamari to the edge of Drigh Road and includes entire Defense (all phases), Clifton, Mehmoodabad, Kalapul surrounding areas etc.

Is it a Punjabi majority area :? [-X

C'mon Bhai ... I'll let you off the hook. :D


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Post by hamza_yusufzai on Mar 1, 2008 8:38:06 am

Haleem siddiqi is punjabi thru n thru..he won from the constituency thats primarily punjabi speaking. Would u say MQM is as treasonous or more than ANP, Bugti, Mengal, Qadir Nagsi etc.? I hope u get the sarcasm in my tone. I m no fan of MQM ...n i truly find N's leadership to have the most honorable stand in todays politics....but i think its a disastrous strategy to not recognize the vote bank of MQM.


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 8:32:10 am

:D Senetor Colonel Tariq Mashhadi punjabi speaking, Nisar Punhar ..member exec. commitee sindhi speaking, Iqbal randhawa memeber coordination committee punjabi speaking..:D

How many of them actually won seats in a poll (senators don't count even if this Mashhadi guy is one or even a Punjabi) or became Governors or Federal Ministers :?


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 8:27:36 am

... I just hate MQM which is a treasonous and treacherous gang of thugs. I'll never deny what I think about MQM.


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 8:24:47 am

Post by hamza_yusufzai,

Governor Sindh is not a Leader? That's news to me. :D

What about Haleem Siddiqui? He won NA-250 and was the Shipping Minister in NS government. No leader as well? *-)

Anyway, I'm disappointed you say "...at ground level u hate our gutts as bhayyas and we hate urs as paindoos...."

That's at-least not my feeling. Certainly not. Ask cliftonbridge.


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Post by hamza_yusufzai on Mar 1, 2008 8:13:25 am

zee hahahahahaha..so one mamnoon hussein ...n he isnt leadership ...if thats the criteria than..lets see. Senetor Colonel Tariq Mashhadi punjabi speaking, Nisar Punhar ..member exec. commitee sindhi speaking, Iqbal randhawa memeber coordination committee punjabi speaking.... the entire leadership of MQM punjab unit is punajbi speaking and so on n so forth in rest of the provinces...the irony is that the leadership of N in karachi is punjabi speaking...but i digress ...like i said its juvenile debate to have ...i understand that its cosmetics...at ground level u hate our gutts as bhayyas and we hate urs as paindoos....personally i love em all as my brothers n sisters in Islam except maulana fazloo..hate that motherfukker


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 8:09:15 am

... and yes, they had a seat-adjustment with PPP in Sindh, and didn't field any candidates in Baluchistan because of time pressure. Remember, Sharif brothers were only allowed back ONE day before the LAST date of nominations filing. That was part of the pre-poll rigging.


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 8:05:10 am

Post by hamza_yusufzai,

could you tell me how many seats have N won from sarhad, balochistan and sind.

Is Hazara included in NWFP? Do count how many from there in the election results.

And i am also interested in finding out which leadership of N is urdu speaking...

Which ethnicity is the ex-governor Sindh Mamnoon Hussain Sir???


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Post by hamza_yusufzai on Mar 1, 2008 7:56:49 am

I have no qualms in accepting that MQM is a regional party and no non-urdu speaking in his cadre, although they do try to appoint punjabi speaking and sindhi speaking senetors for political correctness, this is no different than ANP, or Muslim league N for that matter, could you tell me how many seats have N won from sarhad, balochistan and sind. And i am also interested in finding out which leadership of N is urdu speaking...not that it matters to me..i hope we r beyond that..at least those of us who have graduated high school


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Post by zeemax on Mar 1, 2008 7:44:52 am

What's so different here?




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