Free Abdelkarim Soliman and all the rest, too
This post is a look at the case of Abdelkarim Soliman, the media attention surrounding it in the West, and the implications this has for human rights activists in the Middle East.
Abdelkarim Soliman, also known as the blogger Kareem Amer, is just one of the many hundreds of innocent people who have suffered at the hands of Western ally Hosni Mubarak’s regime. His case is unique to these in two ways: it is the first known case involving a the crime of blogging, and it has drawn much attention around the world, including that of the right-wing democracy evangelists in the United States.
But why was so much press coverage drawn to Soliman’s unjust situation, when less than a week before his verdict the arrest of 75 civilian members of the Muslim Brotherhood was largely ignored, enraging few outside of Egypt? If Soliman’s imprisonment was indeed an example of a reactionary Islamic government, as those right-wing pundits like to claim, then how in the same week could such a reactionary government effectively shut down a popular religious social organization?
It is peculiar that the same government should shut down a man for insulting religious sensibilities on the one hand, while accusing others of being religious extremists on the other. But the situation is not so puzzling if one looks at these arrests in their natural political framework rather than trying to force a religious lens over them, as the right-wing likes to do precisely because it views a monolithic “Islam” as its enemy. Both Soliman and those members of the Muslim Brotherhood pose a political threat to Mubarak’s regime, because both vocally criticize it. But while the Muslim Brotherhood is inspired by Islamic principles, Soliman gained popularity in the West precisely because he had denounced Islam.
What does this discrepancy mean for those who seek justice for both Soliman and the hundreds of others languishing in Egyptian prisons, including the modest taxi driver Imad al-Kabir who was arrested after being sodomized with a broomstick by Egyptian police?
It means, for one, that international acclaim, support, and popularization cannot be taken for granted. Some believe that all pressure is good pressure, that all attention is good attention–but such “good-will” does not occur in a vacuum, and those activists pressing for Soliman’s release cannot expect to control it or its effects. Activists should be wary of the reasons for the “support” of international representatives, journalists, or organizations–after all, would Soliman had gained so much support if he hadn’t been writing against Islam?
Would the West have sympathized with Soliman, for example, if he had been calling for a state and constitution inspired by Islam? Even though, by liberal standards, we theoretically have the right to make such a call (perhaps not implement it, according to the orthodox model) if we desire, chances are that the world would have let that news slide out of its two-minute memory rather quickly if it hadn’t altogether embraced it–like the case of the Muslim Brothers who according to Human Rights Watch (which by the way is not perfect) will be facing military tribunals because the civilian criminal courts acquitted them contrary to the wishes of the regime. HRW called for the release of the Muslim Brothers, correctly asserting their rights to freedom of expression and association.
These cases will never earn the false sympathies of Michelle Malkin or the so-called Arab liberals who have the curious habit of supporting liberal standards only when they apply to liberal victims, or others that are tenuously allied to them. These people only make political pronouncements and denouncements when they happen to coincide with their own interests and political agendas.
And yet, those cases must earn the sympathy and attention of those who think themselves supporters of human rights and proponents of just societies, at all times. Otherwise we run the risk of being tools, willingly or unwillingly, rather than catalysts for change.
International “solidarity”
And what of those protests that have come from those outside of Egypt? It is easy to denounce a government that is not your own, especially if you have nothing to fear from it. What is not so easy is to consider doing the same when your own government has committed similar injustices.
While much clamor regarding Soliman’s case has originated in the United States, few have managed to remember that Egypt is in fact a close ally in the Middle East, receiving the largest amount of annual foreign aid second only to Israel. In this sense Soliman’s arrest at the hands of Egypt has been completely disconnected from Egypt’s own obeisance to the US–perhaps because drawing a connection between the two could potentially weaken a relationship which benefits both the Egyptian regime and the ambitions of the US.
At the same time, those who have been the loudest about Abdelkarim Soliman have managed to remain silent regarding the case of Professor Sami al-Arian, a Palestinian-American academic who has been in prison since 2003, despite being acquitted of all but two charges in 2005, the other two voted on by the jury 10-2 in favor of his innocence. All of this, in America.
Or, what of the solidarity posts by the Syrian blogger community “condemn[ing] the arrest and sentencing of [an] Egyptian blogger… for the peaceful expression of his dissenting views?” This support is appreciated, of course, but one must wonder: when and if the first Syrian blogger is arrested, will we still be willing to organize condemnation in the same way? Or even more frankly, since this petition is about freedom of expression, not freedom to blog: what about the many political prisoners already in detention for that very reason, including Omar al-Abdullah, a second-year philosophy student who is close to Soliman in age?
The long-term dangers of politicized solidarity
These shortcomings should not delegitimize or weaken the campaign that has been working tirelessly to free Abdelkarim Soliman. In fact, in the immediate view, they may only have a positive effect in terms of actually securing his release. But Soliman is not the only political prisoner in the world or the Middle East, and these shortcomings will weaken the campaigns that are focusing on the rest.
For one, the international and partisan component of these campaigns make it very easy for domestic opposition movements to be accused of the regimes of being pawns of foreign governments. As a new study on the Syrian opposition by Joshua Landis and Joe Pace notes, most opposition figures in Syria, for example, have been forced to explicitly and categorically reject foreign assistance and interference. While now-political prisoner Michel Kilo stated that “we are not enemies of the regime” but “want to fix [it] through a large national effort to protect the country especially against America,” other opposition figures like Hassan Abdul Azim went one step further proclaiming that anybody who accepts foreign assistance will have an “unqualified position [taken] against them.” Andrew Tabler notes in “Democracy to the Rescue” that the signatories of the Damascus Declaration even turned down $5 million from the U.S. State Department, with Abdul Azim clarifying that “support by international powers for democratic change in Syria is welcome” but that foreign funding “means subordination to the funding country.”
Even Abdelkarim Soliman’s case provides plenty of such examples. As the Free Kareem blog notes, Soliman’s own father “accused human rights organizations that stood by Kareem of corrupting him.” Of course, it is absurd to suggest that Soliman or anybody else is incapable of making an opinion without being “corrupted” by foreigners–but such accusations make it very easy for Soliman’s case to be disregarded, and foreign human rights workers and monitors to be harassed and discredited. More ominously, they could provide a future pretext for the Egyptian government to place further restrictions on their activities, as well as the activities of the Egyptian opposition.
Discard the rest of the world, then?
Does this mean that international support for political prisoners should be altogether rejected and discouraged? No, absolutely not. However, it does suggest that all international support is inherently political, and thus has ramifications that must be considered. More importantly, it must be scrutinized before being embraced to determine whether or not it is genuine support, or manipulation.
While Abdelkarim Soliman’s case has been given air time in the Western media, I have already expressed doubts that this would have been the case had he not been critical of Islam–indeed, it was not the case for political prisoners from the Muslim Brotherhood.
We can extend this further even to the realm of opposition movements: would persons like Khairi Abaza from the Egyptian New Wafd Party be paraded around college campuses by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, if his party’s politics did not happen to coincide perfectly with the ambitions of a certain pro-American, pro-Israeli clique in Washington? Or, as As`ad AbuKhalil wonders, while members of the opposition-in-exile from Syria (and previously Iraq) are always welcomed in Washington, would that same government ever give an audience to Saudi or Libyan opposition groups?
These should not be considered simply to delineate our own motives from those of the ostensible “supporters.” Rather, we should realize that their motives do have effects that can be detrimental to our entire movement. Thus, if not out of principle (which it should be), then out of pragmatism these elements should be avoided as well as explicitly condemned.
For activists, these discrepancies mean that the mobilization of international support or solidarity should not be considered a success or an end in and of itself. In fact, it seems that international solidarity–especially when it comes from foreign governments or others with vested interests–only complicates their situation. It has other motives attached to it and is liable to change with the political whims and interests of those abroad.
Indeed, it seems to be an unpredictable liability that we cannot afford.
This article is cross-posted to my personal blog.
Join the Conversation
It’s very simple – Kareem has active friends. And we spent hours per day for months getting his case across the entire world until we made sure that each mainstream paper got a hold of it.
If you think people just knew about his case because Kareem was any more “important” than the others – then you are wrong. As Kareem’s friend I can tell you that right away. Most media outlets weren’t even aware of Kareem’s existence before this happened, why or how would they otherwise find out? Why would they pick him to write about instead of all the others?
Again, Kareem has active friends. Others don’t. Sheer luck I suppose.
This is what I have a problem with.
People question too much, they say “why don’t you campaign for this person, that person, and the other person?”
I’ll tell you why – lack of support for such people from friends, family, and activists.
Kareem’s case is huge not because Kareem was particularly important.
But because he had us by his side this whole time and none of us gave up or stopped working for his sake.
Why don’t others do it for the people they think were wrongly imprisoned?
Seriously. It bothers me when others wonder too much, “what about the others?” My reply is, “do something about it!”
This applies to the people who criticized our Free Kareem campaign because they found it unfair that we’re doing it for Kareem and not the others. While we regret what happened to the others, it is THEIR responsibility just as much as it is ours to start a campaign for them and express their opinions regarding such cases.
Clearly you are misunderstanding this case.
You are drawing this conclusion unfairly because of the support we got from the few right-wing bloggers that you were exposed to.
Please check our sources – plenty of Arabs and Muslims are making their cases heard and it is for our benefit, it is for the benefit of Arab and Muslim societies in general, because for the first time in a long while we are showing the world that Islam has respect for human rights, most media stories quoted us as Muslims fighting for his case. It’s a powerful statement.
The attention is NOT because of what Kareem said against Islam.
It is NOT due to media bias.
I personally spoke to many media outlets and made sure that they emphasized the fact that we at the Free Kareem Coalition are mainly composed of Muslims, and they did that. Do you have any idea how highly that speaks of Muslim youth? That we are fighting for Kareem despite what he said about our religion? If they were ‘anti-Islamic,’ they would think twice about mentioning that. But they did, and it gave Islam a much better name.
And finally, if Arabs and Muslims were silent at the time and we were receiving a great amount of attention due to outside support, do you really blame us for accepting their help? Do you know who put most of the pressure onto the Egyptian government? It wasn’t just the U.S, contrary to popular belief. We are talking about countries even in Latin America and Europe (especially France, Sweden, and Germany.) 3 Italian MPs sent letters of concern to Egypt.
I don’t care WHAT this makes us look like. At this point, we are humans siding with each other for the sake of a young man who has been imprisoned for practicing his basic rights, I refuse to make this about “right wing haters” and “anti-Muslims” and “Westerners vs. Islam” or any of the above. Most of the help didn’t even came from them, so to even imply it is just exaggerating and blowing this false point out of proportion. It is due to international support that we are gaining the help of thousands of other Muslims worldwide, which I repeat only came as a reaction to outside support.
And SO what?!
This is a really silly mentality that Arabs in general have. We must make this about East vs. West, where we don’t accept anything Western because it must be biased and they all must have an agenda.
Well guess what?
I met these people (in reference to our trustees at the Free Kareem campaign.) I know them personally. I know their organizations very well and I’ve even worked for one of them. They want to help, is that so wrong? And in Kareem’s case, they helped us a great deal, I don’t see anything wrong in accepting and appreciating their help. They are non-profits, they are not affiliates of the U.S government nor are they tools for Zionist agents, for as long as Arabs have this mentality that anything Western must be ideologically corrupt, we will get nowhere. Why increase the gap between East vs. West? If my nation isn’t contributing enough, why not turn to another and have them help me network and increase my connections to the global media?
Wrong again!
I don’t think you even realize how much work we put into this.
It’s SO easy for you to sit back and claim that this is all because of what he said, instead of what others did for him. But I am heavily involved in this campaign, in fact I am the proud Director of the Free Kareem Coalition and I consider these claims to be baseless accusations of things that aren’t even close to the truth.
It’s due to hard work, it’s not due to what he said.
It’s hard work and it’s work that we sacrificed and risked a lot for, and I appreciate it if people realize that Kareem’s campaign is huge not because he is any more important than the rest of the imprisoned activists, but because he was lucky enough to have us, and we are also making a powerful statement through this campaign which indirectly speaks for all of those imprisoned, not just Kareem.
As you can see I am passionate about this case and I really dislike all of the implicaions in this post.
And for those who ask, “what about the others?” again I repeat. Get off your asses and do something about it. This is not directed to you, but I know it is a question in the minds of many. I know the lazy whiners a little too well, they want things to happen without moving a finger. Well guess what? We worked HARD and we worked consistently and we called outlets to get their attention. They didn’t just give it to us, we MADE Kareem’s case what it is today. And I say that with much pride, I just feel sorry that the rest can’t understand what it means to be active for the sake of a friend. I pity those who expect things to happen without even considering contributing to a worthy cause by risking their lives, sacrificing much time, sleep and energy to dedicate to a campaign and create an entire team who is willing to do just that.
We succeeded.
And now people are criticizing us for it, I find that nothing but laughable to be honest. Kareem deserves every bit of that attention and we made sure of it. If you think someone else deserves just as much attention no one is stopping you from putting together an effective strategy the way we did. No one said it’s easy, but obviously it’s worth it. Our campaign is proof of that.
Esra’a, I am not questioning the intentions or the hard work put into this campaign by courageous people like yourself. I know the risk that you are putting yourself in, and that others have put themselves in. What I am questioning is why people outside of Egypt have been listening to this case, as opposed to others, and while some of this may be because of the efforts you have made to get them to listen, I don’t think this is entirely the case. My question is not “Why don’t you campaign for the others?” it’s “Why doesn’t [any group of people here] listen to those campaigns?”
And yes, the main thing I am saying is that the people who are working on his behalf–what they are ultimately doing–is of course for the benefit of Arab societies in general!
I want to clarify that my post is not against the Free Kareem campaign, it’s not against freeing Kareem, and it’s not against people helping to Free Kareem. It’s about questioning the way Kareem’s case has been treated around the world in a larger sense. Sorry if this was not clear.
Simply because they are not doing enough.
This isn’t the only campaign I made.
The other 2 campaigns I started got just as much attention and were just as successful in terms of readership.
Seriously, you are reading into this the wrong way and turning this into some weird conspiracy while it has much to do with hard work and WHO you target.
Because others are simply not doing enough.
Can you point me to a single campaign and give me proof that they worked consistently for it?
That they risked their lives (and some of us risked being interrogated by the police) in order to ensure the fact that the entire world hears about it?
Contacts is everything.
We had contacts because we personally made dozens of calls, we made our case heard and for the first month the word was spreading out because of ONE NEWS STORY! It can make that much of a difference. This is not a conspiracy.
This is due to hard work, don’t read into it the wrong way and come up with excuses for other campaigners who aren’t working hard enough. If they did half of what we did, believe me. They will be heard. Show me proof that they did half as much and they weren’t heard at all and I might reconsider my stance, but in the meantime, no one’s stopping you from running just as big of a campaign and putting in just as much time, passion and effort.
Esra’a,
1)Who are Kareem’s lawyers? By this question, I don’t mean their names, for that is useless information for me, I mean who are they in terms of what is their reputation. What they have done in the past before they got Kareem’s case.
2) What have they done since then? Do you have contact with them? How appreciative are they for what you have done?
Lawyers who have big time reputations pick and choose the “right” cases. I don’t think you understand the meaning of this idea in the legal world. The burden of proof is on the defendant in these cases; This isn’t the US, for better or for worse. The burden of proof is to prove your innocence, not for the state to prove his guilt. SO, some cases are perfect challenges and set up the most contrast of corruption vs innocense, and others are shades of gray. The shades of gray cases are simply not as advantageous to use to try to overthrow a judicial prejudice. Try to think like the person in a lawyer’S suit: Better to put your legal energies and money and time and talent into cases that you think you can win, not the ones you can’t. Of course this doesn’t mean someone is guilty or innocent only the reality of the situation involving campaigns to free political activists,etc.
Hi,
I don’t actually like Kareem – he strikes me as a bit of a tosser – but I will still be encouraging my local Amnesty group to write angry letters to the Egyptian minister for Justice, the Egyptian Ambassador etc.
However, I agree with the original poster – this is not just about one guy, who is getting attention because of his pro-Western views. (This is not to criticise Esra’a and the Freekareem.org people’s efforts – it’s about us, not you.) We in the West should speak out more about oppression generally. It’s just that it’s a lot easier to get non-political people to agitate for a living human being with an identifiable face, than it is to get people to agitate for abstract concepts like “freedom”.
I’m taking some sample letters for the Soliman into the Amnesty group meeting today, but I’d really like to expand the letter writing to gently and politely advocate for greater freedom of expression. I’m just not entirely sure how.
Seriously, you guys are making this about ONE guy, this speaks for the rest of them as well. It adds pressure, this is why we work too hards towards it and thus why the attention is maintained within the media.
And did any of you actually READ Kareem’s posts? I don’t think most people did. He is barely pro-Western. He critizied his religion, is that so wrong? That hardly makes him pro-Western. Having actually met him, I know that he is in love with his country.
Angry letters don’t do anything. Respectful, concerned letters do. Angry letters will just make things worse. People want to be reasoned with, not threatened or humiliated.
By the way, if you go to freekareem.org and see the media releases on the sidebar, these are all mostly media we have chosen to contact or have personally written for as op-eds or exclusive reports.
Check out the columnists. A lot of them are the same, and many times it is members of our coalition who are either the ones writing or the ones being interviewed for the reports.
Also we have added a new section -
Why Kareem, and not the others?
Ok, my problem with this is that you could say “why Karim and not Muslim Brotherhood members”, I-or anyone else-could easily then say, “Yaman, why Karim and the MB, why not the way Copts and Baha’is are treated? What’s YOUR agrenda?” And that kind of back and forth could go on for a while.
I’m sympathetic to Esra’a's point of view in that a) they can’t do EVERYTHING and b) maybe we should be less worried about how things LOOK as opposed to how they ARE.
I worry a lot that these kind of criticisms leading to deciding that some human rights are western friendly (darfur, christians in the middle east, the veil, bahai’s) and others (palestinians, iraqis, afghanistan) are for arab activists and allies and you can only work at one, which ultimately only delegitmizes any side’s claims to being advocates of human rights if you apply them selectively.
On the other hand, as much as I think this is a worthwhile pursuit, I don’t know if it will be precedent setting. I’ve been called a Jew hater like five billion times for being concerned about Palestinian and Lebanese lives so I wouldn’t be holding my breath for any American paper to do a sympathetic story to MB political prisoners whom, as much as I oppose their views, I have to recognize their right to express them peacefully.
Nadia, of course, people should continue to ask those questions forever. However I am not asking Esra’a and her friends to do everything, nor am I worried about how their activism “looks.” Actually, I was criticizing the behavior of people in the West when it comes to looking at human rights in the Arab world, and how they are more likely to latch on to Western-friendly causes (for example, anti-Islam, anti-Arab, pro-US type people). So their support becomes support for the political agenda, for the specific opinion, rather than for the right to express that opinion.
Oh I entirely understand your point, and I think it’s a very valid criticism. I just think the selective concern applies to both the left and the right in the West.
I was also thinking about the Darfur situation, where alot of Arabs seem very concerned about the fact that some Zionists are calling it arab on black violence, and their concern seems to stop at the fact that the conflict is mispercieved. And I mean yes, some people are framing it in terms of religion or racial conflict, but does that change that what’s happening is horrible? It just seems odd to me.
I’m well aware that there are arab and muslim groups that are willing to engage on Darfur issue here and there, but there’s also many that are willing to be silent, or just don’t want to think about it, which makes me really sad.
I think the Darfur problem is a bit more complicated. As I understand it the largest movement for Darfur advocacy is calling for military interference to stop the violence.
This is such a massive generalization, Yaman.
Did you know that many of our media coverage wasn’t even in the USA? You say Western while you are feeding this view of West vs. Arabs, this is such a misleading generalization and I am very disappointed that you are resorting to this way of thinking.
The Free Kareem campaign succeeding is NOT a result of Western bias and propaganda and your evaluation above is entirely incorrect in many different ways which I don’t really have the time to list. But really, after your other campaigner friends lead worldwide rallies, make a billion phone calls to news agencies and get off their asses to do something for once, maybe THEN you can accuse the ever so evil “West” for ignoring other prisoners.
It’s not their job to do anything. It’s yours. It’s ours. And we did something; now it’s your turn to do it to the others you care about instead of expecting others to do it. And when they do it you better make sure you evaluate how we’re doing it and how the other campaigners are doing it, so you can see the differences between how we are succeeding.
One damned website saying “free this and that” without any other work is hardly doing ANYTHING, and that is what most campaigners have out there. So I reject these arguments, not until I see proof of some actual work.
Your criticism is invalid because you refuse to see the Free Kareem campaign as a worldwide effort and rather you think everything existing outside of the Arab world as “Western.” Yeah, Romania, yeah, Germany, yeah, France, yeah, all of the organizations and NGOs involved – they are all so very Western (i.e., “American” and anti-Arab) and are all feeding the very same mentality that Islam is bad and Arabs suck. What a humongous misconception. Many of the reporters residing in these areas, as well as many of the protestors were also Arab or Muslims and were still fighting for Kareem. So much for Westernization and the West being so “picky” on who it chooses to fight for.
FYI – Our efforts in Bahrain also made our local news. How Western was that, huh? Yeah, Kareem is such a Zionist tool. Yawn.
Esra’a, I think you already understand my position on this. I was not criticizing you or the Free Kareem campaign. There is no burden on the West to popularize these issues–claiming there is, I think, is problematic because it deprives us of agency. I do not look at things in terms of a big bad West and the innocent, vulnerable East. I am only interested in answering the question of why there is fixation on some issues and not others, on some people and not others, on some areas and not others–this is looking at how people who are not part of your campaign react to it, not to how your campaign is conducted. I’ve said it many times before that your efforts are courageous, admirable, and necessary.
Well I also think it’s fair to say that Mubarak probably feels a lot more threatened by a groups like the MB than he does an isolated guy who said something “offensive,” so it seems a lot more likely for this campaign to be successful.
Nadia, of course the Egyptian government did not put Kareem in jail because of his religious beliefs. They put him in jail for his political views and his critical stance against the government–the fact that many Muslims were willing to call for Kareem’s jailing for apostasy was a convenient way for the Egyptian government to take care of a dissident. Abdel Mun’am, the Egyptian MB blogger who was recently arrested, said as much when he rightly pointed out that Kareem went to jail for his anti-Mubarak views.
I wasn’t talking about criticism. I’m talking about you pretending as if Kareem got the attention solely because of his stance while you completely disregard the efforts and the never-ending work of his friends and colleagues who put in hours each day fighting for his cause and organizing worldwide rallies. And you’re telling me this attention is due to his stance? That’s just bullshit. The West never gave a shit until we gave them a reason to. Not a single phone call was well received and not a single e-mail was returned, so we began stretching the campaign in ways that not many did.
Show me a campaign that did this much. I am not bragging, I am asking you to honestly find me a single campaign for an Arab or Muslim prisoner whose organizers did this much on a global basis yet didn’t receive the attention. I want to see the efforts because otherwise, your entire argument blows off into just a rant and not a valid observation that is based on a misunderstanding of both Kareem’s stance and his campaign.
What you should be criticizing is not the West. It’s not their damned fault to do this work. It’s your responsibility as much as it was ours to take action. The only difference is that we took that action – we put our lives and studies aside and we built this and I want to see who else was passionate and caring enough to do this. Seriously, show me just one campaign that did this much, and you may have a point. Otherwise this remains to be completely false and dare I say extremely lazy on your part to expect journalists abroad to give a shit about something no one gave a shit to work on in the first place. It’s not the West and it’s not a conspiracy and it’s not Kareem’s stance – it’s the responsibility of his organizers to turn their subjects into a purpose, not just a stupid cause on some website.
Secondly if you see something under-represented, why complain? You have the resources to do a lot about it, why expect others to do the work if they don’t really give a crap about the same causes? When people didn’t give a shit about Kareem we made them give a shit, this is what you should do, instead of saying “oh no, look at the West, they only report this problem but not the other.” Introduce the other problem. Who else is gonna do it if not you?
“Abdel Mun’am, the Egyptian MB blogger who was recently arrested, said as much when he rightly pointed out that Kareem went to jail for his anti-Mubarak views.”
That’s totally plausible, I was just making a point that from the government’s perspective affiliation with an opposition group that has a big base of support is a hell of a lot more threatening to them than a random guy that says the same thing. I’m not as educated on the case as most people here though, so maybe there’s more to him that I don’t know.
“What you should be criticizing is not the West. It’s not their damned fault to do this work. It’s your responsibility as much as it was ours to take action. The only difference is that we took that action – we put our lives and studies aside and we built this and I want to see who else was passionate and caring enough to do this. Seriously, show me just one campaign that did this much, and you may have a point.”
There aren’t a lot of well organized people working on behalf of Palestinian prisoners?
And I don’t see why I can’t criticize certain folk in the West that only care about human rights in the middle east as an excuse to bomb people. Actually the other day I heard from a kid that seriously thought Israel was occupying Arab territory so women wouldn’t have to wear burkas anymore.
Can you seriously show me how a huge influence of the European media for Kareem is being used to bomb the shit out of Egypt? Because European is “Western,” mind you. Can you honestly tell me that this is the only reason why they are reporting? The majority (almost all) of our press list is by papers like Al Jazeera, the AP, Reuters, the Guardian, the BBC, et al, all of which have huge biases against the US and the occupation of Iraq and Palestine. They don’t make it any less obvious for you – they are hardly proUSA in any manner and hardly anti-Muslim either.
So tell me once again, that Kareem is being focused on as an excuse to bomb things. Really, because that’s not generalizing the entire Western press at all. Michelle Malkin writes a stupid article on her racist blog and here is everyone shouting “omg they only pay attention because of what Kareem said.”
Yeah, sure, I totally buy that!
Esra’a, a lot of what you have said is true, but it does not disagree with anything I have written, and that you think it does leads me to believe that you completely misunderstood my argument and my intentions. Your anger, directed at me, I think, is unjustified and misplaced. You are also putting words in my mouth now. There are no conspiracy theories in my post, and if you think that, then you should read it again since I explicitly call those theories ridiculous. I have NEVER insinuated that media exposure for Kareem’s case is used for dropping bombs on Egypt, so I don’t know where you are getting this–maybe it’s easier to argue against me if I had said that (and I agree it would be). But I never have ,and I never will. I have tried to explain that over and over, and I thought we had gotten over this when I first posted this a long time ago, so I don’t know where these new outbursts are coming from or why. If it bothers you so much, and if you really will continue to distort what I have said and put words in my mouth, then maybe it is better if you make a decision to take it down.
I realize you are in an uncomfortable position campaigning on behalf of somebody with very unpopular views in his country, and that you’re fed up with people accusing you of being Western agents or whatever else you’re hearing these days. But you have to understand that there is a reason why people are accusing you of those things (AND THEY ARE WRONG, OF COURSE), and that is because of the selective attention people in the West pay to prisoners and others in the Middle East. Read my post again. This is what I am talking about when I say that politicized solidarity is DANGEROUS because it poisons the discourse about prisoners and the campaigns surrounding them. Nobody who is genuinely working for human rights, like yourself, wants to be called a traitor, or a spy, or an agent, or something like that, when they are working to protect their freedoms. You know that this happens because you are experiencing that right now. I am suggesting it happens in part because of the politicization of the West’s attention. For example the State Department and other spokesmen issued condemnation after condemnation last week while the ‘elections’ were held in Syria–but you can be sure that few people took this seriously. “What does the White House have to say about elections in Saudi Arabia and Jordan,” they will ask, even though what was said is true (in both cases). This is the reality of the way people behave, and you should realize that. You cannot look at these things and ignore their context, because their context does have a meaning and an effect, today and in the future. All I am asking is that we pay attention to it.
That aside, a lot of what you have said is also wrong. Kareem’s case gained attention because of your efforts–which I agree with you are completely unique–but I was looking at the secondary question of why his case even has that potential. Do you really think the Muslim Brotherhood can get the same sympathy from the same people in the West as Abdelkarim even if your campaign is replicated? It is not just a matter of getting the information out there. People in America hear about Iraq all day long on the news, but everybody pretty much ignores this. As widely distributed as that information is, there is no cause attached to it. Even when people get information, like about Abdelkarim, they choose on their own what to accept and what to act on. I am asking why people in a completely foreign setting with no connection to Egypt whatsoever want to act on Abdelkarim and not others. Actually, it’s even more specific than that: it is not simply why they DON’T act on others (which is completely acceptable, you can’t handle every single issue in the world singlehandedly so there are many legitimate explanations for this) but why they WON’T.
That aside, I have no pretensions about the lack of effort and work I’ve put into supporting the Free Kareem campaign and others, or even the little progress I’ve made on my projects for those reasons and others. This is unfortunate, but at least I recognize it. I am not satisfied with the “stupid causes on some website” that I’m behind, but neither do I think that this is actually enough action.
Anyway, I don’t have much else to say about this. I just hope that you will take what I have written to be sincere and will re-read my original post to see that I haven’t said almost anything that you’ve attributed to me, nor does it fall into the conspiracy theory categories. Also, I hope that whatever is troubling you right now will pass soon and everything will return to normal.
“People in the West”
“Western”
And then you complain about the generalizations that people place upon Arabs. Because, obviously, all Western media outlets want one thing and are under the same political umbrella.
People have no reason to believe that this campaign has a “Western” agenda because a)
It’s not Western. It’s global, and b)
It’s led and is being funded by Arab-Muslims. So tell me what reason do they have not to believe this? Tell me why I shouldn’t blame them for being utterly blind and if I may add, stupid?
So there is no reason, and there is no justification for their beliefs, don’t try and cover up their stupidity by claiming that “they have a point,” I know you think they’re wrong but you should realize the fact that they are also misled.
I am sick and tired of these associations and even more sick of people trying to justify others having them. There is no reason to believe these things.
No, Leah, it is not the same. I do not speak of people in the West as if they are acting according to their unavoidable nature, or according to their culture. Nor do I write about them as if I’m speaking about every single one, and this should be clear since I am of the West. I am definitely generalizing, but I am specific about the class of people I am referring to.
I never accused the Free Kareem movement of being Western or of having a Western agenda. This is more defamation about what I’ve written and what I’ve suggested. Please show me one line from this post where I even HINT that the Free Kareem campaign is Western or serves a foreign agenda. Please do it. In fact, I say the complete opposite, and for the millionth time, I will clarify it one more time since reading is now a challenge: I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN, OR ABOUT KAREEM, I AM TALKING ABOUT ITS RECEPTION. Is that clear now?
Finally, I have NEVER said that people are justified in their beliefs, or that they have a point. I am explaining why they feel a certain way. If you are incapable of seeing the value of this exercise, then you live in a hopeless world where you can never interact with anybody that has a different perspective on the world than you do. How do you expect to convince somebody to change their mind if you don’t even understand their mind right now and why they have their beliefs? This step is so important when trying to argue to somebody–it’s almost fundamental. I’m amazed that you think this constitutes “justification.” I would repeat my earlier request for you to show me anything that I have written that says people are “justified” in entertaining conspiracy theories.
The e-mail alert that was sent to me says the above comment is from Leah, but it shows up from Esra’a on the website. I apologize for the error, and the comment is addressed to whoever actually made that comment.
Sorry I was fixing her account and posted it under her name by accident.
That is a direct result of the campaign and thus you are talking about the campaign and discrediting it from the work it does.
You are trying to make a false statement here saying “the free kareem campaign was received this way because….” NO. For the bajillionth time no one ever gave a shit about Kareem until people began forcing this case down the media’s throat until it reported it. THIS is why it was well received and widely publicized, NOT because of what Kareem said which IS the implication you are trying to make.
Here are the other ridiculous and baseless assumptions you make.
In the following quote you are expecting those who were the loudest for Kareem to do something about this professor while of course you yourself refuse to. So, we, the loudest for Kareem’s cause, are supposed to do something you are not willing to do yourself? We have THAT much time and energy? You think we are some damned NGO running around trying to free every political prisoner in the world? You said in the past you didn’t expect us to do this – yet here you are in this very post saying it.
Loudest for Kareem…. SILENT for another prisoner…. does that mean we have to be the loudest for all, even for cases some of us never heard of or could personally relate to?
Here’s a hint – start a website for him?
Another assumption -
What did you do to earn the sympathy of the world? How do you expect these cases to ever earn the sympathy and attention of human rights activists worldwide if you yourself aren’t doing anything to mobilize them? Can you tell me? Do you think you magically gain an audience rather than earning it?
So instead of correcting these bad assumptions – you are actually justifying it and not making an attempt to prove that these aren’t “Western” or “Zionist” agents rallying for the cause of justice and not just for Kareem himself. Kareem in many ways speaks for all of us.
You are stating this comfortably, while those of us, Arab activists, who attend conferences worldwide are the ones being insulted, mocked, threatened and targeted because we are being accused of something that YOU are justifying, that YOU are telling us to feed. No, I will not feed these people’s stupidity by implying that anything remotely supported by Western NGOs is Western. I know you don’t believe it, but by saying “ignore this” instead of “fixing it” you are helping this mentality grow. I will not “localize” my campaigns and make them “for Arabs only.” This is for anyone who gives a shit about free speech. Everyone at all, no matter who or where or what your political background is, we accept all kinds of support and this is precisely what led to our success.
Pure bullshit. You are widening the gap between “East” and “West.” Us and them. Enemies and victims. We are successful because we made our point, no matter what you think. They should be considered successful because they are widely known and Kareem’s case is mobilizing many Arab activists to speak up for justice and human rights. Yet here you are – implying that anything gaining international recognition and support is doomed to an “ideological failure” of some sort. Bullshit, this is a horrible way of thinking. You should never limit your audience or staff, ever. Involve the world in your struggle. This is how it should be.
Can you for once second admit that we are all human rights activists fighting for one cause (ensuring human rights for all) rather than basing things by race and ethnicity? Or would you rather promote racism and “US” vs. “THEM”? As well as shutting the outside world from our world?
1) I am talking about people in the United States in this post, not activists with connections to Kareem like yourself. You have to wonder why people in Florida with no connection whatsoever to him might be so devoted to Kareem’s case when they have a professor facing similar abuse from the government sitting in prison in their own neighborhood. I think this is a legitimate inquiry, and I don’t think that it harms Kareem or the people supporting him. Maybe this is different to you since you don’t live in the US. But sometimes people are so concerned with the rights of people elsewhere because they are blind to see the problems in their own society. It would not be a problem if they were aware of them, and supported others who were working to rectify them, but they had just for some reason or another decided to devote their concern to Kareem over the others–but this is not the case for the people I am talking about. But this is not the case, a lot of these people are not only opposed to but are totally hostile to looking at problems here.
2) What? This doesn’t even make any sense.
3) I think the fact that I dismiss these accusations pretty clearly shows my attitude towards them. I wouldn’t care about them if I didn’t think they were totally false. I was NOT justifying it, and it is because of accusations like this thrown out by you that even talking about the issues I raised is becoming a crime. This is a logical mistake by you in thinking that I am justifying these accusations.
4) No, I am not widening any gap at all. This is pure bullshit on your part, and I don’t know how you came up with that absurdity. Nor can I understand how it’s not glaringly obvious that support from foreign governments is shady and should not be accepted at face value. You think that government, whichever it might be, whether it’s Saudi Arabia talking about Palestine or the US talking about Karim, is actually doing this out of the goodness of its heart? Come on, this is the kind of naivety that will lead to disasters.
Of COURSE we are all human rights activists fighting for one cause, and I am NOT basing things on race and ethnicity AT ALL. But it is a HUGE and problematic mistake to pretend that nobody acting in this field can have other interests. Do you actually buy a single word that George Bush says about human rights and democracy?!? Are we so under his spell that we can’t add 2 and 2 together to see what is actually happening?
It seems that you’ve split the world into only 2 categories of “pro-Kareem” or “anti-Kareem.” I am saying that there are many more categories, and it is important and useful to look at all of them. Why you’ve decided to start this huge attack on me for things I haven’t even said is still a mystery to me. Seriously, calm down. This animosity is totally uncalled for and will be unproductive.
For the majority of his very active supporters we have contacted them personally, one by one. Your claim is false and baseless. We never wonder why they “magically” gain support for Kareem because we gave them a good reason to. Yet here you are throwing your fingers around as if you know what you’re actually talking about when you seriously don’t.
And don’t give me this “pro” or “anti” shit. You’re the one making up a whole world of “West” vs “East” by claiming why the West supports one prisoner and not the other while of course, you never even started a campaign for those you think deserve the attention. Don’t you think that’s just a bit laughable? Do you even try?
No, I don’t try. I don’t actually care about any of them. All that I’m really into is wagging my finger around and spreading hate by making up a world of “West” and “East.” I double checked on the map, and it turns out there actually isn’t such a direction as “west” or “east.” Woops. Back to 2nd grade for me!
I’m done with this thread.
And why the hell are you talking about Bush? International solidarity = Bush now? And you’re telling me you’re not a conspraicy theorist. Yeah, we had contacts with the State Department. Yeah, we issued dozens of press releases. Just like we used our state contacts in Romania, France, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere. There is a word for this, it’s called global campaigning. You focus only on the support coming from America and claiming that we are “under Bush’s spell now.” Get a grip on yourself. Our first and only choice was Arab people and NGOs to rally for this cause and no one did anything, this is why we turned it worldwide. And now here we are being given a “lesson” by your expert self who never led a campaign for any person you deemed worthy of one.
Whatever. Maybe you’ll actually do something when you get off your ass and not expect those who were the “loudest for Kareem” to do it.
Esra’a I was speaking generally about how links to islamists are an extremely common means for discrediting people(justified or not) not specifically about this case. Actually I wouldn’t have known anything about it if it wasn’t for the banners on people’s blogs, so I can’t soeak about the media coverage. And I don’t think what I said diminishes anything about the campaign at all. Peace.