Justice will be the most important word in the lexicon of humanity the first 25 years of this century.
Justice is what the European under-class are calling for.
Justice is the basis for the Tea Party birth.
Justice is what the Arab Spring is calling for.
While justice is in the eyes of the beholder (i.e. socialized healthcare system), in the Middle East justice is so absent from the daily lives of people, the west better not confuse it with the brand used by wall street protesters or progressive community organizers.
If the west fails to understand it as it relates to the travails of the Arab and Muslim streets, the region will implode and both civilizations will pay a price none can afford.
But while justice is achievable in a democracy through dialogue, adaptation, and policy changes, it remains an elusive concept in the Middle East; and because it is never addressed properly, Islamists, themselves the abusers of the most basic of human rights, are invigorated and the Arab street is revolting (Notice how most of the political organizations started by Islamists use the word Justice in their label).
Muslims rely on the west to deliver justice because it cannot expect one of our own to differentiate between what is just and what is a social aberration.
Take these examples of western-imposed acts of justice against mass murderers.
- At the end of WWII, Benito Mussolini was executed by Italian communist partisans. His body was hanged upside down on meathooks in the Piazzale Loreto in Milano.
- Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a hole. Had the allies captured him, he would have found himself in Nuremberg and eventually executed. Had the Russians captured him, he would have found himself probably hanging upside down in St. Petersburg, a city he savagely attacked.
- After the fall of the Berlin wall, Nicolas Ceausescu of Romania was tried and executed by a firing squad by his own people.
- Slobodan Milosevic of former Yugoslavia was captured for crimes against humanity but died of a heart attack during his trial.
Now, take these examples of unruly justice in the Middle East unless the west interferes
- Saddam Hussein, who gazed his own people, was captured by American soldiers and was hanged by the Iraqi government after a speedy trial.
- Muammar Qaddafi, who delivered death and destruction during 41 years of Libya’s history, was captured alive as a result of a NATO bombing. He was shot in the head almost immediately.
- Hussni Mubarak of Egypt is on trial in Egypt and will, more than likely, meet the same fate as Milosevic.
- Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran disseminated his opposition after rising to power, yet he died a free man in a hospital bed because the west chose not to interfere.
- Omar al-Bachir of Sudan, the butcher of Darfur, remains in power protected by the Arab League even though an international arrest warrant has been issued against him for crimes against humanity. Arab rulers welcome him often in their countries but the west remains sidelined and unwilling to capture him.
- The Assads of Syria killed tens of thousands of Syrians, Lebanese, Americans, Iraqis, and Palestinians, including two Lebanese Presidents (i.e. Bashir Gemayel and Rene Moawad) and one ex-Prime Minister (i.e. Rafik Hariri). Hafez died of cancer without any trials for his crime, Rifaat, his brother, roams European cities a free man, and Baschar is on a Genocidal mission because the west chooses not to interfere. They expect the same fate of Omar al-Bachir because the west remains unwilling to dispense the justice the Syrian people are demanding.
- Ali Abedin of Tunisia who ruled with an iron fist escaped with his family to Saudi Arabia where he presently resides. He will probably die a free man just like Idi Amin of Uganda because the west chose not to interfere.
- Thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims killed by Islamic terrorists have yet to see justice. Justice is rendered against them in certain instances (Thanks to US Drones) but more often justice is absent, especially against Muslim women.
No Arab ruler ever delivered justice to his people and no Islamic organization has fared any better (i.e. Hamas). Some even go out of their way to protect the unjust. Is it any wonder the Middle East region is in turmoil?
The culpable party is none other than the Arab League whose number one mission is to protect the unjust from ever facing the misdeeds of their actions. It indirectly paves the way for more injustice by empowering Islamists directly (Remember how they insert the word justice in their political arguments and labels?).
Only when the west demands accountability, do we see some results all delivered by the barrel of a gun and the more the west imposes swift justice upon mass murderers, corrupt despots, the less likely the Islamists will drive the agenda in the future and the more likely the west can influence positively the region.
Swift justice against despotic and self-imposed Arab rulers is essential to bridging the gap between both civilizations because it adds one of the most important common denominators linking humans in their most basic and natural needs. It sucks the oxygen out of the Islamists vs. Crusaders argument, one level higher than survival.
COMMENTS
It is prosperous to compare the radical right-wing Tea Party that espouses bigotry, intolerance, conspiracy theories (birthers), war-mongering and anti-social justice feelings to the Arab revolutions that in its core revolves around social justice. Justice as the world understands it today is a foreign concept to the radical tea-party and to the right-wing party in the US as whole. In fact, the radical right-wingers loath social justice. Anything that has “social” in it is not compatible with their regressive ideology that rather spend millions on bombs than on providing basic health care to poor families from a black neighborhood.
Farid Ghadri who openly espouses the use of violence and who promotes the use of violence is not in a position to comment on what “justice” means or ought to means to all peoples.
In a civilized society where justice actually prevails, calls for committing violence against others like extra-judicial killings, assassinations, etc will actually be met with justice.
Please leave the Arab revolutions alone.
The time of Arab tyrants has come and so is for violent imperialist western tyrants and their supporters.
Egyptians and Tunisians took down two tyrants without killing a single human beings.
Thanks for your comment Moroccan.. What example can you cite in this statement “In a civilized society where justice actually prevails, calls for committing violence against others like extra-judicial killings, assassinations, etc will actually be met with justice”? Are you talking about the US or are you talking about Arab rulers or are you talking about Islam? Depending on where you stand, it could apply to all.
We are for Arab revolutions but not for the Islam preached by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is another form of oppression. Their Islam preaches collectivism (Follow like sheep), ours preaches individualism and freedom of thought. As in regard to the Tea Party, the cause of its rise sheds light on its existence (As in fiscal responsibility and small government). The rest is just plain misinformation or statements made by idiots but the leftstream media attributed to the TP.
In order to have peace and freedom for the benefit of all, one has to show his fists.. Is this justice or violence in your opinion?
The word “justice” is much too vague and ill-defined.
Some use it to mean “revenge”, others to mean “free food and housing”.
Let’s settle for an independent judiciary with strict rules to prevent bribery. That would be a revolution.
If one understands the limitations of freedom, then justice has one meaning because reaching it goes through dialogue, new laws, grass-root movements, etc.. it becomes a collective effort to reach compromise. But when freedom is understood in its primitive form as an actionable Carte Blanche (In most cases in the Middle East), then the jungle rules. A strong independent judiciary system defines the line between both. Your point in eradicating corruption is excellent because it draws that line. Does that mean we can no longer be Camel Traders? =:)
Here are your top ten terror tied C.A.I.R. leaders listed with an article attached defining their involvement and support of terror:
1. Ghassan Elashi
2. Muthanna al-Hanooti
3. Abdurahman Alamoudi
4. Siraj Wahhaj
5. Randall “Ismail” Royer
6. Bassam Khafagi
7. Laura Jaghlit
8. Nihad Awad
9. Omar Ahmad
10. Nabil Sodoun
http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/rogues-gallery-of-terror-tied-cair-leaders/
Part of me says the battle against violence and terror will be won during our time. But another part says otherwise; it is possible that in the year 2099, my Blog and yours will be expressing the same concepts edited by different authors and exposing different players than today. The Muslims who spend all of their energies battling “the enemy” have loud voices but the Muslims representing the silent majority will defeat them soon.
Interesting opinions