Nonno
Habari Na Mijeldi
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: The two faces of modern America
"It ain't over. The anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has mercifully passed without a mass barbeque of flamed holy Korans planned by the florid Florida pastor Terry Jones. But he is still there, waiting to start another fire, to protect his America, patently not the America admired around the globe – refuge of the persecuted, land of opportunity for all. Jones, leader the Dove Outreach Centre (Dove? perhaps Americans do get irony after all) and his lot believe their leaders are now wusses and traitors who hand over the US to dark, sinister forces – migrant Hispanics of strange tongues, druggie blacks, unsexed feminists, the fecund poor, socialists, high-tax politicians, and worst of all "ragheads" – Muslims, outwardly loyal but all furtively fattening up terrorists in their garages.
Jones et al are not maddened desperados. They are part of a mainstream, resentful alliance with Sarah Palin's Tea Party, growing ranks of fundamentalist Christians and Zionists, bitter and racist frontiersmen and women, and some neocons, no-hopers who can only feel alive and worthy when drunk on hostility. This standoff reveals the complicated profile and the many contours of the US, the contradictions writhing beneath its well-spun national identity and revered constitution.
The story of the Union is one of exemplary governance and intentions and also of outrageous inhumanity and injustice. It was heartening to hear the chorus of condemnation against Jones from President Obama, Hillary Clinton, rabbis, churchmen, senators and generals. To them the act of desecration would be "un-American". I beg to differ. The Pastor's hate-mongering is the parallel tradition of the other America, well known by its victims and ghosts of yesteryears. And Obama himself, hounded by the extreme right, which suspects him of being a closet socialist and Muslim."
"There were always virtuous, exceptional Americans who stood by the persecuted through the worst of times. They are there today, too, those who stand against mobs, like Donna Marsh O'Connor, whose pregnant daughter was murdered by the 9/11 bombers. She backs the Islamic cultural centre in New York because that freedom is what her country stands for – or should: "I cannot afford to allow my country to perish in the ashes with my baby girl."
The real struggle today is between hate-filled Yankees and those who hold on to the most noble aspirations of their country. If the idealists fall, it will be hell for Muslims, yes, and a catastrophe for the superpower. Its potent mythology, self-definition, patriotic anthems, poems and hymns will turn to ash and the Great United States Of America that was will be no more."
Full article here
"It ain't over. The anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has mercifully passed without a mass barbeque of flamed holy Korans planned by the florid Florida pastor Terry Jones. But he is still there, waiting to start another fire, to protect his America, patently not the America admired around the globe – refuge of the persecuted, land of opportunity for all. Jones, leader the Dove Outreach Centre (Dove? perhaps Americans do get irony after all) and his lot believe their leaders are now wusses and traitors who hand over the US to dark, sinister forces – migrant Hispanics of strange tongues, druggie blacks, unsexed feminists, the fecund poor, socialists, high-tax politicians, and worst of all "ragheads" – Muslims, outwardly loyal but all furtively fattening up terrorists in their garages.
Jones et al are not maddened desperados. They are part of a mainstream, resentful alliance with Sarah Palin's Tea Party, growing ranks of fundamentalist Christians and Zionists, bitter and racist frontiersmen and women, and some neocons, no-hopers who can only feel alive and worthy when drunk on hostility. This standoff reveals the complicated profile and the many contours of the US, the contradictions writhing beneath its well-spun national identity and revered constitution.
The story of the Union is one of exemplary governance and intentions and also of outrageous inhumanity and injustice. It was heartening to hear the chorus of condemnation against Jones from President Obama, Hillary Clinton, rabbis, churchmen, senators and generals. To them the act of desecration would be "un-American". I beg to differ. The Pastor's hate-mongering is the parallel tradition of the other America, well known by its victims and ghosts of yesteryears. And Obama himself, hounded by the extreme right, which suspects him of being a closet socialist and Muslim."
"There were always virtuous, exceptional Americans who stood by the persecuted through the worst of times. They are there today, too, those who stand against mobs, like Donna Marsh O'Connor, whose pregnant daughter was murdered by the 9/11 bombers. She backs the Islamic cultural centre in New York because that freedom is what her country stands for – or should: "I cannot afford to allow my country to perish in the ashes with my baby girl."
The real struggle today is between hate-filled Yankees and those who hold on to the most noble aspirations of their country. If the idealists fall, it will be hell for Muslims, yes, and a catastrophe for the superpower. Its potent mythology, self-definition, patriotic anthems, poems and hymns will turn to ash and the Great United States Of America that was will be no more."
Full article here
