Who is your hero?
July 22nd, 2008Does dying for a cause you’re passionate about automatically make you a hero? What if you killed many innocent people in the process, does that still make you a hero, or a murderer?
Maybe this is best demonstrated with photos.
A “hero” of the Lebanese political movement Amal, ironically meaning “hope” in Arabic. Is political dominance worth dying or killing for? These guys seem to think so.
Al Qaeda militant. I don’t even have to introduce them. Would you call them heroes, because they kill for their cause? They kill in the name of God, in the name of our good faith, and risk their lives in the process. Thousands of innocent people have died because of them in Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, America, the UK, and more. Do you Muslims let these guys speak for you? Are they heroes of Islam and the Arab world? They are also a form of violent resistance, does their justification win you over?
IDF soldiers. Fighting for “self-defense,” which sometimes includes arresting, humiliating and mass murdering innocent civilians. Are they heroes?
American soldier in Iraq, in what I like to call a new violent occupation. Heroes?
Hezbollah militant. They claim to be “resisting” Israeli violence… through violence! And the killing of innocent civilians, which frankly doesn’t make them any better than the IDF. They also claim to be doing this in the name of “self-defense.” Oh yeah, and Islam.
In the meantime, while the Arab world celebrates with their guns and roses, the real heroes of the Arab and Muslim world are in Arab and Iranian prisons. Suffering for freedom. Being tortured merely for fighting for human rights… peacefully.
Kurds, Baha’is, enslaved migrants, women, peaceful student activists, Palestinians for dialogue, all accused of “Westernization” and left to rot despite their love for their countries, their true patriotism, their love for their faith, for their fellow civilians. No guns, no shitty PR, no propaganda, no funding from Israel or Iran or Syria or their bullshit governments, no religious bias, no Shiite/Sunni discrimination. Just people. Innocent. Fighting for freedom through the most powerful weapons that exist today, their pens and brains. They are forgotten in our prison cells after being arrested, tortured, or killed for speaking their minds or committing to promote regional freedom. Independently. Without American forces, Israelis, or anyone else’s support, discrediting cheap claims of their supposed “Westernization.” They got involved because they believed in themselves, and they thought that others will believe in them too.
They were wrong. People didn’t believe because they didn’t parade in the streets with guns, chanting hatefully, committing to kill. Today, these are the prerequisites for being a hero.
And while you sit here and cheer loudly for these violent militants and soldiers calling them “heroes” of the Arab world, equally violent religious clerics and leaders, abusers of the human rights of innocent civilians, are laughing at you. Knowing that they came out of this victorious.
Activists on behalf of these militants think that they’re doing this for “human rights”.. but of course, they mean the human rights of their ilk only, and not the human rights of everyone who deserves it: God’s creation.
I am a Muslim, I am also an Arab, I am proud to be both. I am against Israeli and American terrorism, but against our forms of terrorism as well. I do not believe in Hezbollah, nor their violent mission, nor their self-important leader who is foolishly playing the role of a prophet. They do not represent me, nor my Islam, nor my Arab identity, they mean nothing to me, just like an American or an Israeli soldier who is guilty of killing innocent people would mean nothing to me.
People think that certain freedoms are “Western” concepts, that peaceful resistance, even though many patriotic Iranians and Arabs throughout history died for it, is a form of “Westernization.” They call me a Zionist, an infidel, a pro-American “liberal” because I believe that the Baha’is and the Kurds and the Israelis and the Sunnis and the Shiites and everyone who may be different, if even slightly, deserve equal human rights and freedom.
There is a time when Israelis joined many, many Arab hands and protested against Israeli invasions, illegal settlements, fought strongly for Palestinian human rights, but today you have given many of them second thoughts, because you cheered for the death of their families, together with your beloved “heroes.”
So then, maybe you win.
Enjoy it. At the expense of other people’s innocent lives.
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Thanks for bringing this up Esra’a. There are really distorted perceptions on who and what constitutes a “hero” in the Middle East, and it’s not only those who seek change through violent means.
The real heroes in the Middle East aren’t only the dissidents and activists, but we encounter them every day. The Afghan women who challenge societal restrictions and brave the threats they face to contribute to their country’s growth. Iraqi youth who strive to build bridges, Pakistani victims of violence who refuse to stand down and choose to speak out.
In short, they are just everywhere, but we fail to recognize their efforts. They will be the real instruments of change in our societies.
“Heroes don’t need weapons”, that’s my opinion.
And a great post, Esra’a!
Esra’a, this is a great post and using pictures so powerfully gets the point across…I completely agree with you. The real heros are those who encourage peace and understanding
fantastic post!!!
Thanks, Esra’a, for writing a balanced post, and a welcome antidote to that pathetic post by Ali calling Kuntar a hero. Baruch Goldstein is not a hero, and neither is Kuntar.
Heroes?
Members of the Wehrmacht were heroes of the German People.
Members of the Red Army were heroes of the peoples of the USSR.
Members of the People’s Army use to be the heroes of the Chinese people (now they rather entrepreneurs!).
When I was a kid, members of the Portuguese Colonial Army were portrayed as national heroes.
True heroes don’t carry weapons on their hands; cowards do.
Praising and honoring men who spread war, violence and terror is a typical attitude totalitarian regimes and undeveloped societies.
True heroes fight for peace! True heroes work for the tranquility of the peoples and the well being of the nations. True heroes are inspiring examples of dedication to others.
And the last hundred years our planet witnesses the acts of several heroes: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, …
You know Marco, Esra’a et al as I was reading Esra’as post I was thinking…”Ghandi, MLK and Tolstoy would all be proud right now…” Its not just me either. There obviously is a universal truth that is available and approachable to all. We seem to be feeling it right now.
All my life I was taught that a man is three things. He is HONOR, COURAGE and FAITH. Honor is what makes you a real human being. This is the high moral and social code that one assumes in one’s society, to attempt to be the best, most model citizen of that society that you can be. We all, from everywhere, have a pretty good idea of what that should be. Courage is what one needs to uphold that honor against anything and everything that tries to pull it down. One does not need to be fashionable or ridiculously PC, or something less than honorable because of outside pressure to be otherwise. We hear all kinds of pure crap about what others would like to shape our thinking to be, but the truely honorable person will ignore it. Faith is what we all really need to help us through the times when hope is growing thin and our courage is getting shakey. It’s tough to hold to these beliefs in these times. My #2 greatest hero of all time is Ghandi, and I immediately thought of him and his leadership as I was reading what Esra’a wrote. A perfect example of HONOR, COURAGE and FAITH. There are many, all over the world that follow this belief, even though they may have never thought they were or spoken about it. They quietly live their lives trying to do the “next right thing” every time they get the chance to do so. Not “great”, not spectacular, but honest and honorable. Those are the heros to me. And they are everywhere. They will prevail. Nothing can stop them.
I am tired of Heroism, whoever the heros happen to be.
Yes there is, and it’s called Common Sense, the collective wisdom born of shared experience.
The Presidential Seal of the United States features an American Eagle holding two things with her tallons: a cluster of arrows with one, signifying America’s military might, and an olive branch with the other, the universal symbol of peace.
Common Sense would suggest that there will be times when heroes have no choice but to use their arrows, and other times, when the olive branch would be the better bet.
I wish there will never be a need for bloodshed, and Esra’a would probably concur, but until we come to believe in what makes sense, we will continue to need our heroes, even when all they have is their arrows.
There was a rock band called “The Stranglers” who once had a hit called “No more heroes”
You may watch the video here.
I can not remember how many times I heard that song!
Marco, this is a great song!
I came upon this post while doing a research assignment about heroes. I am like you. I support human rights. I am opposed to the American occupation of Iraq. I am also opposed to violent religious zealots of all religions. But unlike you I am on the supposed “other side.” I am a Christian in America and I want you to know that I love you despite our differences. It is comforting to know that there are people in the Arab world that have the insight to see the best route to peace.