Humanity

I have reached a crossroads in my life where I have realized that everything that I thought about it was wrong. I will never again be totally convinced about my opinions. 


Picture it. An American woman is walking the streets of Alexandria, Egypt in broad daylight. A metropolis of over 4 million people, fairly cosmopolitan, wearing a skirt and a spaghetti strap tank.  She enters a clothing store, on the side of a busy street because she needs a dress for a party tonight. While in the store, a woman wearing the hijab approachers her in anger, shouting in English "cover your legs, you whore!" The American woman, confused, enters flight or fight mode. She turns to see who is around her for help. They are staring at her with the same glare. No friends in here. The Egyptian woman grabs the American's arm, shoves her into the display, slapping her, biting her, and kicking her. No one acts. The woman pulls off her skirt to embarrass her. Why not? She's practically naked anyway. Beaten, humiliated, the woman pulls on her skirt as she runs for the door, leaving her humility and dignity in the Dolce and Gabanna display.  This of course, was all in response to a severe wave of conservatism that has swept the country and has caused the Egyptian government to pass a new law declaring that woman who are not covering their hair, legs, and arms will be subject to a heavy fine and classes on how to be a proper citizen of Egypt. People are fed up with Western women coming into their society and poisoning it with immorality and sexually-provocative dress. In a society that places its emphasis on community cohesion and the preservation of public morality, these foreigners are threatening to bring down the system. When asked by the police why the Egyptian woman attacked the woman, she answered: "I don't want my children to see women like that. They are immoral and dirty. They are all prostitutes. They don't deserve respect, they need to be taught a lesson. They are sexually provocative and are a threat to my family. I don't want them here. I did nothing wrong."

Are you angry yet? Well, are you?

I am. And I'll tell you why. It's not because this story is about Egypt. It's about France.

That's right, replace Egyptian with "French" and American with "Muslim". Replace the concentration on public morality with a concentration on extreme secularism.

Or just read this article:
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=41981

What justifies this violence? Human Rights? What the hell human right is it of the French woman to beat another for dressing a certain way? The failure of human rights is ironically taking place in the country that "founded" them in the wake of the French Revolution. It died with the passage of this bill, making it illegal to wear various styles of Islamic dress in public, as they have been deemed inhumane to the woman wearing them:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/09/2010914184958118128.html

What is going on? Well, of course, the answer seems obvious. France is trying to protect its secular tradition of laicité by keeping religion out of the public eye. That's why they banned the headscarf in public schools. In that case, they banned all "ostensible" symbols of religion, such as "large" cross necklaces. Just to be fair, you know.

But the cross is not a required religious duty upon Christians. It is a symbol. If I want to leave my necklace at home, I leave it without fearing if God will send me to Hell.  My modesty, which I must protect, is not threatened.  But my hijab (the head scarf) is a different story. It's in my religious text as a religious duty. My modesty and possible salvation are at risk. That's kind of a big deal, isn't it?

Here is the verse in the Quran, the Muslim Holy Book:
“And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear therof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons, or their women or the servants whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex, and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O you Believers, turn you all together towards Allah, that you may attain Bliss.” (Quran 24:31).

These laws are target at Muslims living in France. Period. The population of Muslims in France is between 6-10% according to sources as of 2010. Not all wear the hijab, depending on their religiosity. But let me ask you, if religion and state should not mix, as the French hold strong to, then who gives the government the right to tell a religious Muslim that they cannot obey God? Who gives the French woman the right to beat a fully veiled woman in a clothing store, ripping off her veil, and along with it, her perceived religious duty to God? This is the exact opposite of religious tolerance and laïcité.

France is afraid. In general, Europe is undergoing a influx of Muslim immigrants from former colonies, such as Morocco and Algeria, due to deteriorating economic conditions in their homeland, among so many other reasons. Islam is becoming a more prominent sight in the country, and it scares people. They are so jaded by images of terrorism and extremism, and relate the headscarf and the full veil as oppression of the woman. Many find the religion oppressive to women and give men the right to do whatever they want. You know, to some extent, I agree. Yeah, I agree. But I will never agree with a law that tells people what to wear and how to act. It's undemocratic and authoritarian. It's barbaric.

The deteriorating of French political society in this respect reminds me of the US under the Bush administration. A country swept with fear of terrorism, we allowed the passage of the Patriot Act, allowing wire tapping on our own citizens and racist screening policies everywhere. I really didn't feel any safer. During this low point in my country's history, I felt more afraid of where my government was headed. Is this to set the stage for the future? Are we to become choked by fear to a point we will let the government pass any law it wants, constricting personal liberties, in the name of security? Benjamin Franklin once said that "Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither." Since I heard that quote, I've taken a hard look at my society and was afraid of what I found. People stricken with fear were reduced to babbling children, wanting the government to oppress and take away the rights of others so that they could sleep easier at night. I didn't. I was honestly afraid that ignorant, mis-informed people were taking over my country. The common backwoods hick was steering the course of my society and I had no control. I was scared for a different reason.

But the natural course of politics took over the whims of an ignorant electorate that once controlled the nation. In 2008, Obama was elected. I breathed a sigh of relief. He was for bridging the gaps in society and for a more pragmatic, logical approach to the situation. He wasn't driven by fear, and he does not let the fear of the ignorant, childlike masses steer the course of policy. He respects the democratic principles upon which my country was founded, and the civil liberties that are guaranteed to all citizens and people living in my country. He is a man of principle, not blunt emotion. It seems we have been saved, at least for the moment.

There is no saving France. The government and the people are singing the same song: Fear. Respect for their basic principles found in their Declaration of Human Rights, have been shelved for the time being. Oppression of the Muslim minority is racist, intolerant, and unconstructive for addressing the reality of a growing Muslim population in Europe. They feel a fundamental displacement of democracy is at stake, somehow espousing the notion that Muslims will overrun Europe's Christian identity and Western democratic institutions. For Christ's sake, this is one of the reasons the democracy of Turkey has not been admitted into the European Union, because it is 99% Muslim, and that would fundamentally shift the religious population of what is considered "Europe".

And I thought Egyptians and Arabs in general where the only people obsessed with conspiracy theories. The French and Americans are just as susceptible and it's even more apparent in our laws than theirs. We control our government.

I have come to a point in my life in which the stereotypes of other cultures, religious, and Peoples have been fundamentally shaken. I'm working on picking up the useful pieces to build up a new understanding of my world. I have realized that a societal system based on the preservation of public morality and religious principles is VALID. Yes, 70 million Egyptians prefer this to run their society. It must be VALID, they are not all crazy, are they? It's just a different way to order society, much like our laws and societal norms come from the Constitution and from British political culture that dates back to the first millennium. Both systems are valid, and are tailored to each unique society's cultural on EVERY level imaginable. In Egypt, the most precious thing I've learned is not that I always disagree with the way that people do things, (I might think my American way of doing things would be more efficient), but that this People is not crazy and they are LOGICAL in the way they think. I always thought the way my society did things was better, our principles were more logical. I was superior. Not anymore. My society is based on a different history. I never experienced someone colonizing my country, or having a king rule my country for the past 30 years, allowing the police to justify rape, ask for bribes, and heckle people I've never sat on a road and begged for 20 cents to buy bread. I've never been denied education. I've never experienced many things that Egyptians have dealt with. Until now. I understand why these people order their lives differently than mine. It's logical. I think I would look more closely to God too if I thought my society was going to Hell.

From these tangents and my streams of conscience, I return to You. While my life here has been nothing but a constant battle in which the hero is constantly prodded, poked, and mocked to the point of exploding, I want You to go away with something. My time here has NOT been in vain. I don't regret stepping on that plane in Washington to Cairo. As much as I complain, and as much as my life is being turned upside down and my mind is trying to stretch around a new, annoying, and confrontational life in Egypt, I want you to learn what I am living. I want You to walk away with an understanding of what our world is really like. When you walk down the street, I don't want you fear or look at the woman with her hair covered with suspicion. Embrace her. Respect yourself and the principles upon which your country was founded. Freedom to exercise religion, to wear whatever. To believe whatever. Don't support the oppression of another because they are different.  You've managed to accept me for who I am and who I love. This is what is great about America, and why we are not France. Tolerance and diversity is what makes my country strong, and it is the thing I miss most about it. Realize that we are a unique country in that respect. We are where people come to in order to escape social and political oppression, and to live their lives the way they want to.  My heart hurts when I see what happened in France. I'm embarrassed and offended. I want You to go away with my journal entries a bit more tolerant. If you don't understand something that makes you angry or that makes you look at an issue in a negative light, please research it. 20% of Egyptians have internet. I guarantee America's access rate is a bit higher than that.

You have an obligation to learn before you judge. It's one of the hardest lesson I've had to learn. I don't like the way Egypt's youth treat me. I don't like group heckling, children screaming at me. I don't like being stared at and gossiped about. ButI understand why it happens. Economic desperation has led to a generation of youth that don't care about much. They're largely uneducated. In a UNESCO report, only 20% of tested 4th grade Egyptians were able to solve critical thinking problems in Arabic, math, and science. People don't start research until college (we start in 4th grade with State reports, right?).  People riot over the price of bread. Students have to work, sometimes 2 jobs. I don't like the way I'm treated, but I'm not alone in the disrespect. So are the Egyptian adults, I've noticed. These punks have been socially disenfranchised and economically so as well. Their immaturity is reinforced by a society plagued with problems unaddressed by a controlling, dominating government. I will continue to yell back at them, publicly shame them, and demand my respect. But I will not hate. I will not wish them ill. I understand why it happens. Tolerance and understanding are the most precious things I've come to learn here.  Ironically, it wasn't in America.

Realize that a person in a different culture, like an Arab immigrant to America, might appear strange in his mannerisms, morals, and values. They are, however, taken out of context. It stands out, and it seems like his way of operating his life is contradictory to mine. We grew up differently, in two different parts of the world. He is not an illogical being, he is going off what he knows. In Egypt, for example, his way of doing things is quite normal. My way here certainly is not "normal"; I'm not Egyptian. People stare at me because of it and are waiting for me to do something very extraordinary. This is how I look in Egypt. But I am not illogical in the way I live. I've just transplanted my American life into Egypt. Simple as that.

I'm not telling you to AGREE with how people live their lives. That would be just as intolerant of me as it is to attack someone for wanting to wear the hijab in public.  I'm simply asking you to Educate yourself. Learn more. Don't stop learning, I don't plan to. Appreciate the way another does something, how they order their lives, and appreciate it based on learning.

I'm asking you, please, don't let my struggles here be in vain. This is just as much your experience as it is mine.

"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones." -Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre