Islam Watch - "From Bangladesh to Darfur: How Internalised Racism Has Permitted Lighter Skinned Muslims to Slaughter Their Darker Skinned Co-religionists"

Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims

From Bangladesh to Darfur: How Internalised Racism Has Permitted Lighter Skinned Muslims to Slaughter Their Darker Skinned Co-religionists

by Tarek Fatah

23 Apr, 2009

Speech by Tarek Fatah
The Durban Review Conference (Durban II)
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=164051190246

Dear NGO colleagues and delegates,

I speak to you deeply disappointed that my colleague Milly Nsekalije, a survivor of the Rwandan massacre could not share her story with all of you because in the eyes of some since she is not 100% Tutsi, she cannot have been a victim of the Genocide.

What does it say about the state of racism in our world when the victims of a genocide practise exclusion on the basis of the so-called purity of blood lines and ethnicities.

Worse than her exclusion from today’s event is the fact that it has happened at a conference meant to combat racism, when it fact, in my opinion, whether it was yesterday’s speech by Mahmood Ahmadenijad or this afternoon’s barring off Ms. Nsekalije, we have turned the concept of racism upside down.

Having said that, please allow me to dwell on how racism plays out its dirty game, not just as a Black-White divide, but also as a cancer that affects relations between people of colour, often sharing the same religion, but different shades of brown or black skin.

When the issue of racism comes up, the internalised racism that devours the people of the developing world in Asia and Africa, from within, rarely comes up for discussion.

This afternoon I would like to shed some light on two genocides—one in 1970-71 and the other that continues as I speak. In both instances the root of the problem lay in how one group of Muslims felt they were racially superior to their victims, who also happened to be Muslims. In both cases the doctrine of racial superiority and the practise of institutional racism went unchallenged even after the horrible consequences of such racism was evident and for all to see.

Bangladesh

The first genocide took place in then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh and second is taking place in Darfur. Let me dwell on the Bangladesh genocide first.

In 1970 in Pakistan, my country of birth was divided between two wings; an eastern part that is today known as Bangladesh and the western rump that survived a subsequent war with India as the state we know as Pakistan.

East Pakistan was inhabited by the darker skinned Bengali people who happened to be the majority community of the country, but found themselves ruled by a lighter skinned minority from what was known as West Pakistan—separated by a 1,000 miles.

In the first 25 years of the country, the racist depiction of the darker skinned Bengalis as an inferior and incapable people became the unquestioned dogma among the ruling minority. In addition to the racist depiction of the darker-skinned Bengalis, their culture was portrayed as unislamic and being influenced by Hinduism. Their music, cuisine and attire were mocked while their language was banned and led to widespread protests and deaths in 1952.

In 1970, after suffering under the minority rule of West Pakistan for 25 years, the people of East Pakistan voted to elect a party based in their region and gained a clear majority in the country’s national parliament.

However, the racist view that Bengali people were incapable of ruling the country or that they were traitors to the fair-skinned minority of West Pakistan, led to a military intervention and widespread massacres in which one million people were killed in a ten-month period.

The killing of the Bengali people by the West Pakistan army stopped only when India intervened and defeated the Pakistan Armed forces, but not before hundreds of Bengali intellectuals, professors, poets, authors, musicians and painters, were rounded up and massacred in the final act of mass murder that started with the tolerance of racism as an act of faith.

One million Muslims were murdered by fellow Muslims in an orgy of hate that defied the teachings of Islam and the very Prophet Muhammad who was being invoked by the Pakistan Army. At the root of this sad blot on Islamic history and all of humanity lay the view that people of darker skin are inferior to those for geographic reasons have for no fault of theirs, a lighter skin colour.

One would have hoped that the lessons of 1970-71 would have been learnt in the Muslim World, but the sad fact is that the ubiquitous racism that resides inside the Islamic world has faced no opposition. On the contrary there is near universal denial about this cancer, not just among the governments that rule with oppressive instruments of power, but also many NGOs and civil society groups in the Muslim world.

Darfur

The latest manifestation of racism leading to a genocide is in Sudan where the Arab Janjaweed militia and the Arab government in Khartoum has resulted in the killing of 500,000 Darfuri Muslims whose only fault is that they are Black and thus considered as inferior to the ruling classes of that country.

The mistreatment of Black Muslims by those who feel they are superior because of their lighter skin colour has been historical. Only in the Middle East can one get away by addressing a Black man as “Ya Abdi”, which translates to the horrible words, “Oh you slave”.

The acceptance of racism among the dominant community in the Arab world has today resulted in not just the genocide of Darfuris, but also the celebration by the Arab League of the man charged by the International Criminal Court, President Bashir of Sudan.

It is time that the medieval doctrine of the inferiority of non-Arab Muslims to Arab Muslims is laid to rest. It is necessary that Arab countries and leaders of Arab NGOs denounce this doctrine that has led to the discrimination of darker skinned Muslims by Arab governments in counties as far apart as Dubai to Darfur.

Behind the genocide of Bengal and Darfur, separated by 30 years, is the unchallenged doctrine of racial superiority of one ethnic group over another that has gone unnoticed and unpunished by any institution anywhere in the world.

This doctrine of racism has brought untold misery on the victims of this cancer, but this becomes worse when such racism is given a religious validation. In this day and age, we have fatwas from contemporary Islamic scholars who maintain that a non-Arab Muslim like me would be committing an act of sin if I considered myself equal to an Arab.

Fatwas from the 14th century have been dusted off the shelves, re-furbished and published on on-line Islamist forums to justify the superiority of one group over the other. This has provided the moral justification to the mass murder being committed on the Black Muslims of Darfur, which unfortunately, has gone unmentioned even at this conference.

Conclusion
Let me conclude by suggesting that if racism is a mountain that we all need to conquer, then we have not yet come to a place where we can see this mountain in the horizon, let alone be at base camp.

Ladies and gentlemen, sisters and brothers, if we cannot allow a woman to speak here because she is of mixed blood or the fact that untouchability in India is not on the agenda in Geneva, or that nations of the OIC seek the right to restrict free speech, or a demagogue from Iran with blood on his hands has the audacity to lecture us on human rights, then all I can say is that in the words of Robert Frost, we have miles to go before we sleep…

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Tarek Fatah is the author of highly acclaimed recent book, Chasing Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State.

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Name: Apostate
Subject: A little sanity..
Date: Thursday April 23, 2009
Time: 00:14:36 -0400

Comment

Thanks Mr Tarek Fatah for infusing a little bit of sanity, which you did brilliantly, in an otherwise hate-fest of the world's greatest racists and human rights violators. Hats off...

Name:
Subject:
Date: Thursday April 23, 2009
Time: 00:31:00 -0400

Comment

"The killing of the Bengali people by the West Pakistan army stopped only when India intervened and defeated the Pakistan Armed forces" But those dirty muslim scum bags have forgotten the help we did them and now train terrorists in bangladesh against India, their saviour. "One million Muslims were murdered by fellow Muslims in an orgy of hate that defied the teachings of Islam" And three million hindus were also slaughtered, Hindus bore the brunt of pakistan's ire. Hindu houses were painted with a 'H' to mark them for killing and destruction etc.

Name:
Subject:
Date: Thursday April 23, 2009
Time: 00:37:29 -0400

Comment

Also UN at the time passed a resolution AGAINST India from intervening in the internal affairs of Pakistan, which India of course ignored, otherwise even more people would have been murdered. UN was on the side of the racists at the time, I doubt if it has changed now.

Name: DONT FORGET OVER 3 MILLION HINDUS KILLED BY PAKIS IN 1971
Subject: DONT FORGET OVER 3 MILLION HINDUS KILLED BY PAKIS IN 1971
Date: Thursday April 23, 2009
Time: 03:15:44 -0400

Comment

DONT FORGET OVER 3 MILLION HINDUS KILLED BY PAKIS IN 1971 AND THAT USA WAS SIDING WITH PAKI PIGS AND WORST SENT USS NIMITZ A NUKE POWERED WAR SHIP WITH NUKE WEAPONS TO THREATEN INDIA INTO BAY OF BENGAL. USA IS ALSO A RACIST TERRORIST.

Name: vbv
Subject:
Date: Thursday April 23, 2009
Time: 06:48:37 -0400

Comment

Islam is an arab cult with stories from the Bible distorted and amalgamated into Quran to get sme kind of 'legitamacy' which otherwise is pure arabian muck,shit and barbaric practices.Even today Saudi Arabia is spending billions of Dollars disseminating its wahabi brand of the cult of islam. Take any Indian muslim , he has some kind of awe for the arabs,since their prophet was an arab and Saudi Arabia is their holiest land from where islam originated. This is blatant racism. Even their founder Muhamad confirms that arabs are a superior race. Yet you can see in 'Peace TV' the speakers/propogandists claiming tht islam has no racism and is for all humanity. This is a farce.Muslims are the worst lars when it comes to their 'religion': they go to any lengtjs lying and obfuscating to show their cult in much better light than what it actually is ,absolute amoral BULLSHIT!

Name: vbv
Subject:
Date: Thursday April 23, 2009
Time: 06:48:38 -0400

Comment

Name: balam
Subject: Muslims
Date: Thursday April 23, 2009
Time: 23:01:14 -0400

Comment

The muslims are the most poisonous snakes,which crawl on the face of this earth.Have you ever come across a loyal snake?I would like to see one.Hence one could never trust a Muslim.Allah,Mohammad and Islam have brought so much unhappiness into this world which is a real bad news,but the good news is that Islam would be destroyed by the Muslims themselves.Just leave them alone.They are good at self destruction because they are basically INSANE Following an insane cult started by an insane.May God help us all.

Name: PK
Subject: Untouchability..!?
Date: Friday April 24, 2009
Time: 04:33:48 -0400

Comment

Though many points in Tareq’s essay may be true, he cannot generalize racist issues and include “untouchability” in India as a problem. His statement mentioning untouchability viz. “untouchability in India is not on the agenda in Geneva” is unjustified and may be written under ignorance . Post independence, Indian constitution has institutionalized positive affirmation for the so-called untouchable class. In fact over the years, the reservation policy (recommended in constitution to be limited to one generation) has reached such a disturbing level that seats in universities for higher learning as well appointments in government are reserved to the extent of 85%. Tareq is therefore better advised to check facts before borrowing lines from discredited NGO’s. The indigenous Hindu culture of India has inherent checks and balances to mitigate evils such as untouchability, dowry, female feticide. Perhaps the author is not aware that India’s constitution drafting committee was chaired by Ambedkar, himself an untouchable by birth. There are enough laws of the land to reverse the clock of untouchability. In order to be politically correct and all inconclusive, Tareq’s attempt to equate racial atrocities committed in Africa and Muslims with India’s untouchability problem is patently misguided. Present day rulers in India including powerful chief ministers like Mayawati, Karunanidhi are from the so-called oppressed classes

Name: ciccio
Subject: You re wrong about the Sudan
Date: Friday April 24, 2009
Time: 14:16:07 -0400

Comment

The Sudanese genocide did not start in Dafur, it started shortly after independence from Britain when they tried to subjugate the Southern Sudan. That campaign ran for over 40 years , now that they have discovered oil there it is starting up again.

Name:
Subject:
Date: Friday April 24, 2009
Time: 22:14:44 -0400

Comment

"Present day rulers in India including powerful chief ministers like Mayawati, Karunanidhi are from the so-called oppressed classes." Indian constitution was written by Dr.Ambedkar (an untouchable). What country has asked its oppressed people to write its constitution? Current supreme court chief justice is a dalit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._G._Balakrishnan

Name: at.
Subject:
Date: Sunday April 26, 2009
Time: 10:16:55 -0400

Comment

vbv's comments about islam are right; islam is invented by arab mo to keep arabs superior to all non-arabs.

Name: Ib-Ra-Hima
Subject: Weapons of Mass Distraction
Date: Tuesday April 28, 2009
Time: 16:16:46 -0400

Comment

When will we see that ever since humanity became aware of the Caucasoid and later Semitic people we have suffered under waves of varying degrees of barbarism as a result of their young Xenophobic cultures and malformed cosmogonies? These groups have been at war with one another ever since, with the rest of the indigenous world and the planet itself as their hapless pawns and even becoming collaborators after being infected by their highly contagious, self replicating, destructive paradigm. How have we been able to overlook the totality of the history of the world and its destroyers for the sake of deconstructing one group that happens to offend our sensibilities, while the other side is just as culpable in the devastation the world is currently witnessing? We call Western "civilization" egalitarian and libertarian without ever questioning the price at which these ideologies came to be. How well their propaganda/education machine works is never examined. It is simply used as the reference point from which we then observe and thus experience the world, never realizing that it has conquered us because it now dictates what we use to judge the world we observe. This system has been refined over 2000+ years so they have the jump on the Semitic Arab and their approach toward world domination. Yes I said world domination! Racism being just another of the tools that fuel the distraction and misdirection that inevitably leaves both sides locked in a dichotomy which is further exploited by the orchestrators. Do we realize that Democracy and Theocracy are really one and the same... tools of world domination? Every war since Hellenistic times has been waged with this underlying theistic impetus feeding its roots. So we must not get caught in the mass distraction of our own self interest, blinding us to the true view of the entire picture. Let us be clear, neither the "Western World" nor the "Middle Eastern" cultures are friends of humanity. If you notice, racism exist most prominently in both and any other culture or people they have touched display the symptoms of that sickness among others. The Elders of indigenous cultures say, ‘to know the true face of a thing look at its history’. There are no prayers at Jumuah for the Black Muslims being killed in Darfur or being enslaved in Mauritania and Sudan. There are no irate Muslims protesting in Europe over the injustices perpetrated by Muslims on fellow Muslims or other human beings. But Muslims will go to war over a cartoon. Its all rhetoric! Let us be honest and call a cat a cat! The religions have mostly been developed as political tools designed to justify the means to an end. It is just humanity's animal nature put into action with the propagated approval of "Allah/God" through "Holy Text and Messengers" etc in the fight for resources and/or perceived growth. Is "western" society any different under all their rhetoric and propaganda? No, they are different sides of the same coin leading the world to destruction.

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