Tag Archives: ISIL

Arabization & Islamization

22 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by in Islam, The Middle East, World Religions

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Decorated Jar with Mountain Goats, ca. 3800-3700 BCE, Iran (Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY)

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Reproduction of the world’s oldest example of animation, dating back to the late half of the 3rd millennium BCE, found in Burnt City, Iran (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many of us are confused. Who is a Muslim? Who is an Arab? Are Arabs Muslims and  / or Muslims Arabs?

Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims

Sunni Muslims

  • the majority
  • Wahhabism

Arabs are people indigenous to the Arabian Peninsula, also called Arabia. Saudi Arabia is an Arab country and most of its citizens are Muslims, a religion. Saudi Arabs are Sunni Muslims (a religion) but many are Wahhabis, a fundamentalist Muslim sect. However, Saudi Arabia is home to a Shia Muslim population.

Shia Muslims

  • the minority
  • Alawites

The people of Iran / Persia are not Arabs, but most are Muslims, Shia Muslims. Syrians are Shia Muslims, but Syria is also inhabited by Sunni Muslims. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite Shia Muslim.

Arabian Peninsula
Persia/Iran

The Arabian Peninsula (left) and Iran/Persia (right)

The Arabian Peninsula is home to Arabs, but the people of Iran were Arabized in the 7th century CE. (See Arab Conquest of Persia, Wikipedia.)

The Prophet Muhammad & Arabization

  • Arabization
  • the prophet Muhammad
  • the founding of Islam
  • the Arabian Peninsula

Arabization was the spread of Islam (the Muslim religion) and particularly the Arabic language from the Arabian Peninsula to the Iberian Peninsula. Arabization started in 622 CE, the 7th century, when the prophet Muhammad (c. 570 CE – 8 June 632 CE), God’s messenger, founded Islam. Muhammad was born in Mecca, Arabia, now Saudi Arabia, in the Arabian Peninsula. Countries constituting the Arabian Peninsula are : Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, parts of Jordan and Iraq.

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The Arabian Peninsula (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The map below shows the three expansions of Patriarchal Caliphates, or Arabization.

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Arab Conquests from 661 to 750

Age of the Caliphs. Expansion under the Prophet Muhammad, 622-632. Expansion during the Patriarchal Caliphate, 632-661. Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750  (Photo credit: Caliphate, Wikipedia.)

Saudi Arabia

  • Sunni Islam (± 75%)
  • Wahhabism: fundamentalism
  • an Absolute Monarchy
  • Human Rights violations
  • Raif Badawi

Saudi Muslims are Sunni Muslims, but many are Wahhabis. As described in Wikipedia, Wahhabism is “ultraconservative,” “austere,” “fundamentalist,” or “puritan(ical).” Saudis behead, crucify, mutilate, flagellate and imprison unjustly. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, which means that King Salman has divine rights. (See Divine right of kings, Wikipedia.) Raif Badawi has been in a Saudi jail for five years because he had a website in which he advocated greater liberalism in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Badawi appealed his first sentence: 6 years of imprisonment and 600 lashes. Upon appealing his sentence, in 2015, Raif was sentenced to a 10-year term in jail, 1,000 lashes, and a fine of approximately $250,000.00. Upon his appeal, Raif Badawi was also accused of apostasy, an accusation which carries a death sentence. Mr Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, a human rights activist, lives in my community with her three children by Mr Badawi. They are our cause, but it could be a desperate cause. Saudi Arabia is an extremely rich country. It was the first country President Trump visited in his official capacities.

Iran / Persia

  • Shia Islam (90 to 95%)
  • an extremely old civilization
  • conquest by Alexander the Great (334 BCE)
  • before Arabization: religions
  • Human Rights violations

Iran / Persia fell to Islam in the 7th century. Iran is one of the world’s oldest civilizations, dating back to Sumer: 4000 BCE. It was Elam and Elamites spoke the Elamite language. It flourished as the Achaemenian Empire or Achaemedid Empire (ca. 550 BCE – 330 BCE). Persepolis was the capital of the Achaemedid Empire.  It was conquered by Alexander the Great (334 BCE) and Hellenized. It was the Seleucid Empire (312 BCE – 63 BC; defeated in 238 BCE), the Parthian Empire (247 BCE – 224 BCE) and the Sasanian Empire (224 to 651 CE, or the Arab conquest).

It was named Persia from the Greek Persis (see Persepolis, Wikipedia). The Arab conquest of Iran saw the decline of the Persian language as well as the religions of Persia, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. Iran had much to contribute to the Islamic Golden Age, from the 8th century to the 13th century. It’s conversion to Shia Islam occurred under the Safavid Dynasty (Safavid Shahs) in the 15th century. By the 18th century, under Nader Shah,

“Persia briefly possessed what was arguably the most powerful empire at the time.” (See Iran, Wikipedia.)

In 1935, Persia was renamed Iran  by decree from Reza Shah. The term Aryan was used by Arthur de Gobineau. Iranians are Aryans, as in Indo-Iranian languages, but not as a white master race. (See Comments on Racism in RELATED ARTICLES.) The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled a Westernized Iran during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, led by Ruhollah Khomeini.

Iran is multicultural. It comprises Persians (61%), Azeris (16%), Kurds (10%), and Lurs (6%). Iran is not a member of the Arab World. (See Iran, Wikipedia.)

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Panel with striding lion Neo-Babylonian, ca. 604 – 562 BCE, Mesopotamia (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY)

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Winged lion with ram’s head and griffin’s hind legs, enameled tile frieze from the palace of Darius I at Susa, ca. 510 BCE; in the Louvre, Paris,  © Photos.com/Jupiterimages (Courtesy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica)

The magnificent lions shown above date back to a pre-Islamic Persia. Works I showed in a post entitled Islamic Art featured the art of Iran and other Muslim countries. The second lion is a hybrid or zoomorphic beast. His hind legs are those of a griffin, a legendary animal.

Two Musician Girls by Osman Hamdi Bey
The Tortoise Trainer by Osman Hamdi Bey

“The Musician Girls” & “The Tortoise Trainer”
Osman Hamdi Bey, Pera Museum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Turkey

Turkey is also a Muslim country. Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, (Eastern Orthodox Christianity) fell to the Seljuk Turks in 1453. Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire, but although it is home to Muslims, 75% of whom are Sunnis, and others Alevis, Shia Muslims, Turkey was not Arabized. Turkey became a Persianate society. Wikipedia quotes Marshal Hogdson:

“The rise of Persian had more than purely literary consequences: it served to carry a new overall cultural orientation within Islamdom. … Most of the more local languages of high culture that later emerged among Muslims … depended upon Persian wholly or in part for their prime literary inspiration. We may call all these cultural traditions, carried in Persian or reflecting Persian inspiration, ‘Persianate’ by extension.”

Constantinople was renamed Istanbul after the Turkish War of Independence. Turkey is not one of the 22 countries of the Arab World.

Under Arabization, Wikipedia lists reversions of Arabization, such as the Reconquista and “[t]he 1948 founding of the non-Arab state of Israel.”

The Attacks on Tehrān, Iran

There is enmity between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In Reading Recent Events, I inserted a photograph of Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian Revolution. Shortly after President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Tehrān, Iran’s capital, was attacked by ISIL. It was a twin attack targeting both Tehrān’s Parliament building, or Islamic Consultative Assembly, and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, which is sacred to Iranians. The Wikipedia entry on the 2017 Tehrān Attacks reports 17 civilians dead and 43 wounded (see 2017 Tehrān Attacks, Wikipedia).

The End

Turkey was not Arabised and Iran differs from Saudi Arabia. Iran is home to Shia Muslims and Saudi Arabia is inhabited by Sunni Muslims and Wahhabis. They are different entities. Iran is not a member of the Arab World. The 22 states making up the Arab World are listed under Arab World (please click). Iran’s cultural heritage is extremely rich. As well, it has a parliament. As noted above, in 1979, Iran refused to be Westernized.

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A map of the Arab world, based on the standard territorial definition of the Arab world, which comprises the 22 states of the Arab League (Comoros is not shown). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Not only has a reversion of Arabization begun, but so have attempts to create a more liberal Islam. The Arab Spring started with the Tunisian Revolution on 17 December 2010.  (See Arab Spring, Wikipedia.) The Tunisian Revolution was successful. It led to greater democratization. However, other Muslims societies are also seeking reforms. Raif Badawi is in a Saudi jail because, as noted above, he advocated a more liberal Saudi Arabia. The Saudis still behead people.

Saudi Arabia is an Arab country, but Iran is not. Iran, however, is a Muslim country. It is home to Shia Muslims mainly, There are other religious groups in the Middle East. Islam however is one of the Abrahamic religions. Jesus, Isa ibn Maryam, was a prophet in the Abrahamic religions. (See Jesus in Islam, Wikipedia.) However, Muhammad, who was born in Mecca, founded Islam. He was 40 when the archangel Gabriel, brought him messages from God. Christianity is rooted in Judaism, one of three Abrahamic religions, the third being Islam:

  • Judaism (seventh century BCE),
  • Christianity (first century CE),
  • Islam (seventh century CE).

I will close by quoting Wikipedia

“The Abrahamic religions, also referred to collectively as Abrahamism, are a group of Semitic-originated religious sects that claim descent from the practices of the ancient Israelites and the worship of the God of Abraham.” (Read more under Abrahamic religions, Wikipedia.)

Also read Philosophy of Religion, Encyclopædia Britannica.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

Wikipedia
The Encyclopædia Britannica

Love to everyone ♥

Osman Hamdi Bey

Osman_Hamdi_Bey_-_Kahve_Ocağı_(2B_low_resolution)

Osman Hamdi Bey, 1979 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
24 June 2017
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Reading Recent Events

16 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by in Terrorism, The Middle East

≈ 7 Comments

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A member of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Raqqa. Isil has issued a new call to arms after the Manchester attack. CREDIT: REUTERS

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/04/london-attack-six-dead-van-rampage-stabbings-terrorists-killed/

My last post was published on 3 June 2017. I have not been able to work since. However, in the wake of the London Bridge attack and previous attacks on Britain, three in as many months, I reflected on terrorism, wondering if it could be stopped. (But not if the United States sells weapons to Saudi Arabia.)

Terrorism is extremely difficult to quell. The mind of a terrorist is inflexible. He or she has been radicalized through indoctrination.  A terrorist probably thinks his victims deserve to die. Moreover, ISIL terrorists kill in the name of Allah and are probably looked upon as martyrs by fellow terrorists.

Martyrdom may explain why ISIL claims responsibility for acts of terrorism perpetrated by a Muslim, even if the attack has little to do with promoting the Islamic State. ISIL claimed responsibility for the Orlando, Florida attack by Omar Mateen. Omar Mateen did not mention ISIL until he was about to be shot to death by the police. He had attacked innocent civilians enjoying a night out at an LGBT facility, the Pulse. He had been taught that his sexual orientation was not acceptable. 

It seems terrorism is permanent, but that movements such as ISIL aren’t. ISIL will probably be defeated in the not-too-distant future, but a new movement could replace the one that has been abolished and several of its members will justify killing on the basis of the destruction of ISIL. Human beings retaliate and so do terrorists. Attacks follow one another and new movements avenge the old. It’s a vicious circle.

ISIL, a movement created in 1999 and first known as Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, originally pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda (See Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Wikipedia.) ISIL beheaded American-Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. However, regular beheading incidents did not begin until 2014, three years after the death of Osama bin Laden, on 2 May 2011. ISIL is a Salafi jihadist movement. The beheadings were shown on videos and the United States seemed ISIL’s primary target. Although American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were the first to be beheaded, ISIL’s next victims were British aid workers David Cawthorne Haines and Alan Henning. Japanese journalist Kenji Goto was also beheaded.  The victims I have named were beheaded by British Arab Jihadi John, Mohammed Emwazi, who was killed in 2015.

It is difficult to neutralize or defeat a group of terrorists. They are radicalized. Many ISIL terrorists are heroes without a cause who converted to Islam and travelled to the Middle East. Attackers often see their victims as deserving to die. They kill in the name of Allah and may be looked upon by other terrorists as martyrs.  I wonder to what extent ISIL militants realize that they harm moderate Muslims fleeing terrorism and war and who have lost everything. ISIL fuels Islamophobia and hurt Islam. The refugees started to walk towards Europe in 2015 and many drowned crossing the Mediterranean Sea in fragile crafts. Migrants are Muslims for the most part, but they include minorities: Yazidis, Assyrians, Mandeans, etc.

With respect to the Migrant Crisis, I should note again that  William Lacy Swing, Head of the International Organization of Migration, reports that people smugglers make $35 bln a year on the Migrant Crisis. It’s an industry.

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Nearly 1,500 migrants in 12 boats were rescued from the Mediterranean by Médecins Sans Frontières in just 12 hours last month. This rescue ship has a capacity of 600 people. Photograph: Cesare Abbate/EPA

Islamophobia helped Donald J. Trump’s election to the Presidency of his country. He looked upon all Muslims as dangerous, which is a generalization, but atrocious crimes were being committed in the name of Allah. However, recently, President Trump allowed a large number of Muslims to enter the United States. The European Migrant Crisis also led to nativism. Many French citizens rallied behind Marine Le Pen‘s Front National.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/marine-le-pen-prepares-for-a-frexit

It could be that France’s National Front party influenced the Brexit vote. A little over half of Britons voted in favour of Brexit. However, support for Brexit may wane following a significant loss of seats for British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party.

The “West ” as Villain

The West has made mistakes. Colonialism was a mistake and so was the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. The creation of protectorates by the League of Nations was also a mistake.   The Arab-Israeli Conflict began when Mandatory Palestine was partitioned and Israel created. Israel declared its independence on 14 May 1948, the day the British Mandate for Palestine ended. (See Israeli Declaration of Independence, Wikipedia.) At the moment, matters are sensitive and Israel is making a mistake. Israel has yet to return the territory it conquered during the Six-Day War, in 1967. Israelis are settling outside the territory Israel was apportioned in 1948, often deporting Palestinians. Israel has been granted protection from the United States, but the United States did not veto United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 adopted on 23 December 2016. (See United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, Wikipedia.)

http://www.merip.org/primer-palestine-israel-arab-israeli-conflict-new

The Present

However, we need to focus on the present.  On 14 May 2017, the French elected centrist Emmanuel Macron to the leadership of their country and British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to obtain the clear majority she was seeking in the British general election held on 9 June 2017, three days after the London Bridge attack. Consequently, a shift to the extreme right, in France particularly, has been averted. As for Britain, the Brexit vote did not show convincingly that Britons wanted to leave the European Union. It showed division and division is what the general election has confirmed.  Jeremy Corbyn‘s Labour Party secured 30 more seats in Parliament, a substantial increase, while Prime Minister Theresa May lost 12 seats.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-the-british-right-went-so-very-wrong/2017/06/11/3f51fac2-4d5d-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?utm_term=.8f27c0ab859d
E. J. Dionne Jr

For a while, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was managing the daunting European Migrant Crisis almost unassisted, but she is supported by France. Jeremy Corbyn is expected to smoothen the Brexit negotiations, if indeed Britain leaves the European Union.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/manuel-cortes/brexit-jeremy-corbyn_b_17124182.html

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/09/jeremy-corbyn-west-nato-russia-215242

Retaliation and “all-out war”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/26/islamic-state-calls-all-out-war-west-start-ramadan-manchester/

ISIL claims that the London Bridge attack was retaliation against American airstrikes in the Middle East. It has declared an “all-out war” on the West, in the name of Allah, and did so during Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims, which this year began on 26 May and will end on 24 June 2017.  The Atlantic reports “staggering loss of life” in the fight against ISIL.

https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/06/the-staggering-loss-of-life-in-the-fight-against-isis/530292/

As it happens, ISIL’s first target was Iran, a twin attack on Tehran. It was not the West.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Tehran_attacks

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/rare-double-attacks-hits-irans-capital/2017/06/07/d9f101c2-4b50-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html?utm_term=.f8a8cfb3650c

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Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Terrorists attacked the Parliament building and the tomb of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the nation’s Islamic revolution.  According to the Washington Post, approximately 12 people were reported killed and 42 wounded.

Conclusion

Allow me to express my condolences to the family and friends of the victims. These are the saddest of times. Many countries are accepting refugees, but attacks such as the three attacks on Britain scare host countries. Canada passed anti-Islamophobia legislation, which may not have been necessary, but Canada’s Muslim community had to be protected officially.  However, I cannot imagine Canada accepting sharia law. Immigrants to Canada and refugees have to abide by Canadian laws. Canada respects the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The War in Iraq was a mistake. It was, I hope, the last instance of Manifest Destiny. It is my conviction that the countries of the Middle East are capable of looking after themselves. But, following the Arab Spring, certain autocrats would not democratize their nation and heads started to fall. Muath Al-Kasasbeh was burned alive. Human beings were locked in cages that were lowered into the water. The genocide of the Yazidis began, and an American-led coalition started to strike. Drones were used, so attacks were targeted and civilians spared. Targeting is almost impossible. The villain was ISIL.

By 2016, thirteen million Syrians had fled their country to seek refuge in the safer West. But the West was divided. The European Migrant Crisis was a calamity. Were migrants friends or foe?  Fear led to Brexit. In France, Marine Le Pen thought she had found the road to power. She ran a populist campaign, à la Trump, and she was defeated. But suddenly, terrorists were attacking Britain. The attacks occurred after Donald Trump’s inauguration. However, Mr Trump’s travel bans were blocked by the courts.

I believe we are nearing the end of this ordeal, but many have died and more could die.

All of us are human beings. We can hate, but we can love. We can love far more than we can hate. The planet is ours to save and the world is ours to shape and to share.

Love to everyone ♥

Tchaikovsky – Hymn of the Cherubim – USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir
(extraordinary music!)

Mandate_for_Palestine_(legal_instrument)

© Micheline Walker
16 June 2017, updated
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Yazidi Refugees: Children and Women

25 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by in Middle East, Refugees

≈ 8 Comments

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Yazidi children at the Kabarto camp (ALICE MARTINS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/02/22/refugees-cheer-canadian-promise-to-welcome-yazidis.html (video)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-yazidi-idUSKCN0Z20WR

I was writing another post, but I had news to share. Canada will be welcoming 1,200 Yazidi children. Some of these children fled ISIL and walked alone to camps. Others were accompanied by their mother. Many, if not most, have been abused and women were used as sex-slaves.

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Iraqi Yazidis

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A Yazidi Child

  1. Survivors: Nadia Murad (left) and Lamiya Aji Bashar escaped Isis enslavement to become advocates for Yazidis, and were last month awarded the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize AP
  2. A Yazidi child (Google Images)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-sex-slaves-lamiya-aji-bashar-nadia-murad-sinjar-yazidi-genocide-sexual-violence-rape-sakharov-a7445151.html

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/world/meast/iraq-rescue-mission/

The Genocide of Yazidis

ISIL’s persecution of the Yazidis “gained international attention and it directly led to the American-led intervention in Iraq, which started with United States airstrikes against ISIL.” (See American-led intervention in Iraq (2014 – present), Wikipedia.)

Pan-Islamism was the main cause of the Armenian genocide which began in the mid 1890’s under Sultan Abdulhamid II. (See Hamidian Massacres, Wikipedia). It is dated 1915, when the men were disarmed and orders issued to rape, enslave and kill the rest of the population. Earlier, in 1892, Sultan Abdulhamid II had also ordered a “campaign of mass conscription or murder of Yazidis as part of his campaign to Islamize the Ottoman Empire, which also targeted Armenians and other Christians.” (See Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL, Wikipedia.)

Abdul Hamid II is pictured below as a Şehzade (Prince).

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Abdul Hamid II as Prince in Balmoral Castle, Scotland, 1867 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Armin T. Wegner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Spread of Islamization

Islamization/Arabization spread all the way to the Iberian Peninsula. (See Islam in Spain, Wikipedia.) The Moors were exiled, but Moriscos still live in Spain. To my knowledge they are not Muslims. However, several North-African countries converted to Islam (Morocco, Algeria, etc.).

After the fall or the Byzantine Empire, at Constantinople, in 1534, the Ottomans also conquered several countries in Eastern Europe, nearly reaching Vienna. The inhabitants of these countries did not convert and were persecuted. However, there are Muslim communities in Eastern Europe.

Yazidism

The Yazidis are not Muslims. They are an ethnoreligious group whose religion is rooted in “ancient Mesopotamian religions and combines aspects of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism.” (See Yazidis, Wikipedia.)

They inhabited Northern Iraq and, recently, they have been protected by the Kurds, which did not prevent a genocide resembling the Armenian genocide. The goal is the same: Pan-Islamism. The men who would not convert were killed. In 1915, male Armenians were disarmed, sent on long walks to nowhere or killed. Their wives and children suffered intolerable abuse and women who could do so jumped to their death. The scenario has not changed. Most male Yazidis were separated from female Yazidis and their children. Those who refused to convert to Islam were killed by ISIL.

ISIL’s persecution of the Yazidis gained international attention and it directly led to the American-led intervention in Iraq, which started with United States airstrikes against ISIL. “Additionally, the US, UK, and Australia made emergency airdrops to Yazidis who had fled to a mountain range” and provided weapons to the “Kurdish Peshmerga defending them alongside PKK and YPG forces. ISIL’s actions against the Yazidi population resulted in approximately 500,000 refugees and several thousand killed and kidnapped.”

I will spare you further details, as I would be quoting the Wikipedia entry: Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL.

Conclusion

  • help (US, UK, Australia, Turkey)
  • Armin T. Wegner
  • Extremism

The Yazidis are hiding in moutains. They have been helped through air drops of supplies. Kurdish Peshmerga were provided with weapons to protect them. Weapons of all abominations! At this point, they must be flown to safety. Now we know why President Obama led a coalition fighting ISIL. He answered a call for help. No one helped the Armenians, but German soldier Armin T. Wegner took photographs.

N.B.

Individuals whose ancestors or ethnically-related groups have committed crimes against humanity are not guilty. As well, far-right extremism is a universal affliction. United States President Donald Trump is currently conducting a major “cleansing” operation. He is also condemning difference. His actions are governed by pathological fear. However, a large number of Americans are fighting him and the courts oppose him.

Many ISIL terrorists are rebels without a cause who have travelled to the Middle East. As you know, there have been incidents reflecting Islamophobia in Canada. The worst is the Quebec City shooting. Alexandre Bissonnette’s twin has been hospitalized since his brother killed Muslims at the Grande Mosquée. Canada is protecting its Muslims and welcoming new ones.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or Gendarmerie royale du Canada, an élite corps of policemen, have been helping people cross the border into Canada because, if left on their own, these individuals could be deported indiscriminately. These refugees are illegal immigrants and they are arrested and investigated. The RCMP/GRC must make sure individuals crossing the border are not criminals. However, people fleeing to Canada are human beings who have rights.

The Yazidis are mostly children or young adults who have been persecuted and most have lost their father. They may require medical support.

Source

“Europe’s Child-Refugee Crisis” (The New Yorker)

Love to everyone ♥

 

Genocide of Yazidis in broad daylight

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Arrival of the good Samaritan at the inn by Gustave Doré (WikiArt)

© Micheline Walker
25 February 2017
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On the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire

24 Wednesday Aug 2016

Posted by in Middle East

≈ 8 Comments

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Triple_Entente

Triple Entente (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A 1914 Russian poster in which the upper inscription reads “agreement”. The uncertain Britannia (right) and Marianne (left) look to the determined Mother Russia (centre) to lead them in the coming war. (Caption credit: Wikipedia)

map_of_ottoman_empire_1914

The Zykes-Picot Agreement

  • the Triple Entente
  • the Turkish War of Independence
  • the partition of the Ottoman Empire

We are going back to the Zykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, a secret partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. It had an enormous impact on the 20th century and beyond. The Agreement was negotiated by Mark Zykes (England) and François Georges-Picot (France) and was signed by Edward Grey, for Britain, and Paul Cambon, for France.

In 1914, Britain had declared war on the Ottoman Empire and expected a victory, which meant that the Ottoman Empire would, in all likelihood, be partitioned. Britain and France had spheres of influence in the Ottoman Empire. So did Imperial Russia, which explains why the Zykes-Picot Agreement is also called the Triple Entente. Imperial Russia was to get Istanbul (still named Constantinople since the birth, in 325 CE, of Christianity as an institution), the Turkish Straits and Armenia. The image above, shows a Russian poster, with the word agreement or concord written at the top. The figures represents France, Russia and England. However, by 1918, Imperial Russia had fallen to the Bolsheviks (1917) and the Czar and his family had been executed on 17 July 1918. By then, the Russian Civil War had erupted (November 1917-October 1922), opposing the Red Army and the White Army. The Zykes-Picot Agreement nevertheless remains a triple entente because Russia had assented to the Agreement.

Given that the Allied powers (France, England, the United States and other allies) won World War I, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned. By and large, its partitioning was consistent with the terms of the Zykes-Picot Agreement, but the negotiations were carried out by the newly founded League of Nations, established on 21 October 1919. A first attempt resulted in the disputed Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920). The treaty was renegotiated at Lausanne, Switzerland, resulting in the Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923). The Treaty of Lausanne partitioned the fallen Ottoman Empire and also recognized the independence of Turkey and its borders. The Turkish War of Independence was fought between 19 May 1919 and 24 July 1923, the day the Treaty of Lausanne was signed. The last Sultan, Mehmed VI, went into exile on 17 November 1922, but the Ottoman Caliphate was not abolished until 3 March 1924. The last Caliph, Abdülmecid II left for Paris, where he died in 1944. The Ottoman Empire had lasted 700 years, a very long time.

As for the manner in which the Ottoman Empire  was partitioned, allow me to quote an earlier post:

Britain would rule Palestine as a Mandatory Palestine, from 1923 until 1948, as well as a Mandatory Iraq (Mesopotamia) from 1920 until 1932. France would rule a mandatory Syria and Lebanon, referred to as the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (1923 −1946), as well as Alexandretta (İskenderun, now in Turkey).

800px-FeisalPartyAtVersaillesCopy

Treaty of Versailles, Emir Faisal and Lawrence of Arabia (r.)

Emir Faisal’s delegation at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Left to right: Rustum Haidar, Nuri as-Said, Prince Faisal, Captain Pisani (behind Faisal), T. E. Lawrence, unknown person, Captain Tahsin Kadry. (Caption and photo credit: Wikipedia)

Weizmann_and_feisal_1918

Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal in 1918 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Balfour Declaration of 1917

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 seems to contradict promises made to Arab leaders. There was no mention of a homeland for the Jewish people in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. In fact, the Balfour Declaration negated the UK’s “promises to Arabs” through T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Britain had promised a “national Arab homeland” in return for the support of Emir Faisal in opposing the Ottoman Empire. Under Emir (his title) Faisal, Arabs did revolt against the Ottoman Empire (see the Damascus Protocol, the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, and the Arab Revolt, Wikipedia).

Yet, on 2 November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour had sent a letter to Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild which we are familiar with and which was looked upon as a promise. It read:

His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. (See Balfour Declaration, Wikipedia.)

If read closely and completely, this letter is somewhat confusing. As of “it being clearly understood,” it introduces conditions: “[N]othing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine[.]” After World War II, Britain opposed the partitioning of Palestine. At that point, the country promoting the creation of Israel was not Britain. It was the United States, at least briefly. US President Harry S Truman had befriended a Zionist.[1] When the State of Israel was created, President Truman was the first leader to recognize the new state, despite protests on the part of Palestinians. The Holocaust had claimed the life of 6 million Jews. It was horrific. By comparison, the Palestinian Exodus of 1948 did not make many victims, but for the people of Palestine, losing their home was tragic.

truman-israel

Eliahu Elath presenting ark to President Truman

Despite growing conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews and despite the Department of State’s endorsement of a trusteeship, Truman ultimately decided to recognize the state Israel.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel

However, I am now reading that Harry Truman, “initially opposed the creation of a Jewish state.”

As president, Truman initially opposed the creation of a Jewish state. Instead, he tried to promote an Arab-Jewish federation or binational state. He finally gave up in 1947 and endorsed the partition of Palestine into separate states, but he continued to express regret in private that he had not achieved his original objective, which he blamed most often on the “unwarranted interference” of American Zionists. After he had recognized the new state, he pressed the Israeli government to negotiate with the Arabs over borders and refugees; and expressed his disgust with “the manner in which the Jews are handling the refugee problem.”  (in “Was Harry Truman a Zionist?”  The New Republic)

https://newrepublic.com/article/116215/was-harry-truman-zionist

The above could be revisionism, but both sides lost opportunities for peaceful coexistence. (See Palestine-Israel Journal, Sources and Resources.)

In 1917, Chaim Weizmann‘s own rebuttal to Arthur Balfour: “but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh” obscured reality.[2] Israel had not “had” Jerusalem for two thousand years. In fact, the diaspora had begun several hundred years before the birth of Christ. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew who lived in occupied Palestine. However, Dr Weizmann’s rebuttal was a powerful metaphor and it evoked an equally powerful mythos as in mythology).  The Jews were the chosen  people and had a Promised Land. Britannica’s entry reads as follows:

Although the term refers to the physical dispersal of Jews throughout the world, it also carries religious, philosophical, political, and eschatological connotations, inasmuch as the Jews perceive a special relationship between the land of Israel and themselves. Interpretations of this relationship range from the messianic hope of traditional Judaism for the eventual “ingathering of the exiles” to the view of Reform Judaism that the dispersal of the Jews was providentially arranged by God to foster pure monotheism throughout the world.[3]

In the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, the Jewish people needed a “promised land” and despite ambivalence regarding the creation of the State of Israel, it does appear that US President Harry Truman won the day. The Jewish population of Europe had been slaughtered, which preyed on every mind.

However, I am now reading that, following Brexit, British Jews have been applying for German citizenship and applicants will be successful. They have a right of return.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-eu-referendum-german-citizenship-jewish-refugees-nazis-freedom-of-movement-a7119541.html

There are, however, separate rules for Jewish and political refugees from Hitler’s Reich. Under the principle of “restored citizenship”, German Basic Law ( Grundgesetz) stipulates that “former German citizens who between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945 were deprived of their citizenship on political, racial, or religious grounds, and their descendants, shall, on application, have their citizenship restored”.  

In fact, there is a small Jewish community in Germany. Among survivors of the Holocaust, some returned to their German homes. After denazification, it was a safe option, safer than moving to Israel. No sooner was Israel created than war erupted. (See Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Wikipedia.)

Conclusion

I am ending this post. The above shows, albeit incompletely, that Europeans demonstrated eurocentrism when drafting the Zykes-Picot Agreement, the term still used in reference to the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Zykes-Picot Agreement led to the creation of protectorates. As for the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the letter sent by Arthur Balfour to Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, dated 2 November 1917, expresses strong but conditional support for the creation of a national homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. The quotation must be read in its entirety. According to the Palestine-Israel Journal,

In reality the proposed Jewish state was to be a bi-national one, simply because the Arab Palestinians constitute approximately half the population and owned much more land than the Jews. (See Palestine-Israel Journal.)

I have included a photograph of Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal in 1918. It could be that peace would reign in the Middle East had negotiations taken place between the parties concerned at the time the Balfour Declaration was signed. The central motivation in partitioning the Ottoman Empire seems to have been the protection of European spheres of influence in the Middle East.

The Zykes-Picot Agreement still resonates. The Israeli-Palestine conflict is an issue in the current crisis in the Middle East.

Nations must sit around a table, as equals, and their objective has to be peace, not the protection of spheres of influence. It cannot be a repay of the Treaty of Versailles which was a punitive conclusion to hostilities that would generate further hostilities. It was another example of the eurocentrism characterizing the Zykes-Picot Agreement.

Let there be peace!  

Apologies for the long absence due to health issues: anemia.
Love to everyone ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

____________________

[1] “Zionism”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 23 Aug. 2016
<https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zionism>.

[2] “Mr. Balfour, supposing I was to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?” He sat up, looked at me, and answered: “But Dr. Weizmann, we have London.” “That is true,” I said, “but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh.” He … said two things which I remember vividly. The first was: “Are there many Jews who think like you?” I answered: “I believe I speak the mind of millions of Jews whom you will never see and who cannot speak for themselves.”… To this he said: “If that is so you will one day be a force.”
Weizmann, Trial and Error, p.111, as quoted in W. Lacquer, The History of Zionism, 2003, ISBN 978-1-86064-932-5. p.188 (See Balfour Declaration of 1917)

[3] “Diaspora”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 21 Aug. 2016
<https://www.britannica.com/topic/Diaspora-Judaism>.

 —ooo—

Mendelssohn Songs without Words, Op 19 No 2
Daniel Barenboim

800px-Portrait_Caliph_Abdulmecid_II

Abdulmecid II, the last Caliph (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
24 April 2016
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Sultanvahideddin

Mehmed VI, the last Sultan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Algerian War: the Aftermath

25 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by in Fundamentalism, North Africa, Socialism, Terrorism, War

≈ 7 Comments

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er001.jpg

Peuples du désert, C. Novel

Leaving Algeria: the Harkis and the Shephardi Jews

In 1961, as the War of Independence was drawing to a close, Algerians were drowned in Paris. (See Massacre of 1961, Wikipedia.) Moreover, before the mass exodus to France, the French disarmed the Harkis and left them behind. Harkis, now called French Muslims of Algerian descent, had been loyal to France during the eight-year War of Independence. It is estimated that as many as 150,000 were massacred. Torture was used on both sides of this conflict, the French and the National Liberation Front (FLN), and it was deemed acceptable. Harkis had to flee and did so with the assistance of French officers acting “against orders.”   

“About 91,000 managed to flee to France, some with help from their French officers acting against orders, and today they and their descendants form a significant part of the Algerian-French population.” (See Algerian War, Wikipedia.)

In 1962, Sephardi Jews also fled to France and some to Israel. They had identified with the French during colonial times (1830-1962). They were the descendants of Jews who had escaped the Spanish Inquisition and many spoke Spanish. (See Algerian War, Wikipedia.)

The cease-fire was declared on 18 March 1962 by Charles de Gaulle, at great risk to his life. He would not listen to his bodyguards. De Gaulle pronounced Algeria independent on 3 July 1962 and Independence Day is celebrated on 5 July. French settlers wanted to stay in Algeria and were bitterly disappointed when De Gaulle declared a cease-fire and set about freeing Algeria. For some settlers, it was betrayal.

In fact, there was resistance. Settlers who wanted to stay in Algeria formed a secret army, the OAS, or Organisation de l’armée secrète. The OAS fought against the National Liberation Front (FLN). Both factions were Muslim Algerians. (See Algerian War, Wikipedia.)

The fate of Harkis and Sephardi Jews is discussed under various entries in Wikipedia: Algerian War, Guerre d’Algérie, Independence Day, Algeria (5 July), etc.

Harki-j

A Young Harki, 1961 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Aftermath: Ben Bella and Boumédiène

  • socialism
  • Arabization

After France left Algeria, the country contemplated socialism. Its first president was Ahmed ben Bella, who described himself as an Islamist of “mild and peace-loving flavour.” (See Ahmed ben Bella, Wikipedia.) The Sand War, fought in October 1963, occurred during ben Bella’s presidency. Morocco was claiming ownership of Algerian territory. Ben Bella grew into an autocrat and a thief. He was deposed by his friend and colleague Houari Boumédiène (FLN). Boumédiène was a popular leader, but he fell ill and died in 1978, at the age of 46. Houari Boumédiène also contemplated socialism and put into place measures reflecting the influence of socialism.

Algerians are not Arabs. They are descendants of Berbers who converted to Islam. As we have seen, initially, Algerians were not attracted to Islamic fundamentalism and jihadism. Consequently, when Algeria’s neighbours to the east started promoting intégrisme, Islamic fundamentalism, resistance to Islamism culminated in the Algerian Civil War (1991-2002).

The Algerian Civil War, 1991: Fundamentalism

The Algerian Civil War “followed a coup negating an Islamist electoral victory.” (See Algerian Civil War, Wikipedia.) In December 1991, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) seemed about to defeat the National Liberation Front (FNL). The election was cancelled in January 1992 and a High Council of State was formed under the presidency of Chadli Bendjedid. During the Algerian Civil War, the government of Algeria, the National Liberation Front, opposed members of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) who, contrary to the government, the FLN, were fundamentalist Muslims advocating Sunni Islamism and djihadism. 

Barbaric massacres occurred during the Civil War. Most followed the hijacking of Air France Flight 8969 (1994), to which I have referred in my last post (See Related Articles). It was an act of terror that found a tragic echo in the attacks of 9/11 in the United States. The terrorists’ intention was to blow up the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but France’s anti-terror unit, the Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN), killed the terrorists at Marseille.

In 1999, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a member of the National Liberation Front (FLN), was elected president of Algeria. It could be that Islamic fundamentalism had lost its appeal, but given the wars waged in the Middle East during the 2000s, some fundamentalism  could not be averted.

“In 2006, the GSPC, the Groupe salafiste pour la prédication et le combat,[1] was officially accepted as a branch of al-Qaida in a video message by Ayman al-Zawahiri; soon thereafter, it changed its name to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).” (See Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Wikipedia.)

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s President, has not been seen since January 2016, which has fuelled rumours that he is extremely ill.

Conclusion

To sum up, after Algeria gained its independence, its leaders identified with socialism. However, groups were progressively drawn into the fundamentalist Islamism that was rooting itself in neighbouring Arab countries of the Middle East. It was called Salafist “Islamic revivalism.” Algeria resisted Islamic fundamentalism, but it found supporters.

The driver of the death truck of the 2016 Nice attack, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, was Tunisian. It has now been determined that the attack was planned over a year and that Mohamed Bouhlel had accomplices. He responded to calls to attack citizens of coalition countries fighting ISIL. Yet, he was not a suspect. (See 2016 Nice attack, Wikipedia.)

The Kouachi brothers (Charlie Hebdo shooting) were of Algerian descent and the two were radicalised in the Middle East. In other words, after France left Algeria, the Arabization of Algerians led to a degree of Islamic fundamentalism and at least two of the three major attacks on France have been perpetrated by descendants of the population of France’s Colonial Empire. ISIL, however, remains at the heart of terrorist attacks on France and European cities. Last week, Munich was attacked. When will it end?

These are terrible days, but I doubt that radical Islamism will abate until it is rejected by Islam itself. Neither Islamic fundamentalism, nor autocratic leadership, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad‘s, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, can benefit the Middle East. Its citizens are walking out. It seems that Assad is ready to talk. (See Malta Today.)

President Obama is still the President of the United States and he is a man of peace, despite the strikes. The talks have to occur soon. Participants should be supplied  with plenty of good food and drinks, sit at a round table, and put an end to this misery. Muslims are not migrating because they want to. They are migrating because they have to. This is self-destruction. Make Syria safe for Syrians, Iraq safe for Iraqis and free Saudi Raif Badawi. It is difficult to imagine why King Salman of Saudi Arabia fears an innocent blogger whose wife and children are living in my town. They are awaiting a beloved husband and father.

Reconciliation should happen soon, because members of the extreme Right could be voted into political office in mostly tolerant countries.

The Arab Spring was a call for greater democracy. It was energetic opposition to Islamic fundamentalism and Islamic radicalism, i.e. ISIL, by Muslims themselves.[2] But Assad was led by his fear of losing power. If he acts as he should, the migrant crisis will end and he may save himself.

Apologies for a long absence due to migraines.
Love to everyone. ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

  • Wikipedia
  • Britannica
  • Films on YouTube
  • The Atlantic Monthly
  • The Economist
  • Touareg de l’Ahaggar, by Christophe Novel (image below video)

____________________
[1]  Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
[2] The Arab Spring began in Tunisia, but Algeria was not a participant.

The Battle of Algiers
music by Ennio Morricone (a very good composer)

dscn3655

Touareg de l’Ahaggar, C. Novel

© Micheline Walker
25 July 2016
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The Massacre in Paris

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Paris, Sharing, Terrorism

≈ 13 Comments

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The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci

The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci (Louvre paintings)

I haven’t been able to write for several days because of flu symptoms. But I thought I should “drop in”.

Paris

The events in Paris have left me numb. I looked at the photograph of persons who died at the Bataclan. Some were very young. President François Hollande called the massacre an act of war.

It is my understanding that Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is pulling Canada out of the Middle East. I wonder whether or not he will reconsider this decision in light of Friday’s brutal and senseless attacks.

This time, President Hollande was blamed. Terrorists always find a scapegoat.

The attacks will no doubt complicate the migration crisis. Europeans may fear some refugees are terrorists in disguise.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/paris-terror-attacks-transform-debate-over-europes-migration-crisis-1447608944

In Canada, tout le bataclan is translated as “the whole kit and caboodle”. But the word “bataclan” has acquired a new meaning.

I feel so sorry for the victims, their families, their friends. France has lost one of the Four Freedoms, freedom from fear. I grieve for France. French Canadians look upon the French as cousins.

My kindest regards to all of you. ♥

Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor, sings Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
“Sì dolce è il tormento” (1624)

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

© Micheline Walker
15 November 2015
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Relativity & the Rule of Law

22 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by in Extremism, Political Philosophy

≈ 2 Comments

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Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Charles de Secondat,
Baron de Montesquieu (Photo credit: constitution.org)

The Relativity of Laws: Background

Montaigne –  Pascal – Montesquieu

A few posts ago, I quoted Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) who wrote:

« Vérité en deça des Pyrénées, erreur au-delà. » (Pensées 8, p. 68 FR)
Truth on this side of the Pyrenees, error beyond. (literal translation)

Laws do change from country to country. In the 16th century, Montaigne[1] (28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592) had come to the same conclusion as Pascal, but Montesquieu (18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755) is the political philosopher who best demonstrated that laws depend on a very large number of factors, one of which is climate.

Montesquieu

The Persian Letters
the Spirit of the Laws
Turquerie

Montesquieu is the author of Les Lettres persanes (1721), The Persian Letters, and the Spirit of the Laws (1748). The notion of relativity is central to both Montesquieu’s Lettres persanes, an epistolary novel, and the Spirit of the Laws. In the Persian Letters, Paris and France are seen from the perspective of Usbek and Rica, two noblemen from Persia. The book constitutes a comparative description of two different societies.

The Persian Letters were written when “turquerie” was fashionable, from the late Renaissance, until the early part of the 19th century. It is an oblique text, a form of saying without saying. One cannot punish a foreigner for expressing views about the country he is visiting or his country, if he is elsewhere.

Three Types of Government

Relativity is also central to Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws (1748), his masterpiece. Laws depend on a large number of factors, from the country’s type of government, of which he names three: the republican, the monarchical and the despotic (« Il y a trois espèces de gouvernements: le républicain, le monarchique et le despotique. »), to the climate of the country, not a new theory but one usually associated with Montesquieu. (See L’Esprit des lois, II.1 [The Spirit of the Laws, Book 2, Chapter 1].)

Applied to three different types of governments, laws have a different impact, hence their relativity. Montesquieu critiqued laws and governments by applying laws to three types of government.

I should also note that, contrary to Thomas Hobbes, Montesquieu believed human beings were born good, but were later spoiled by society, which vilifies society.  

Advocacy

Constitutional governments
The Separation of Powers

The Spirit of the Laws is descriptive. Montesquieu claimed he was happy living in a monarchy. However, he did advocate constitutional governments. French monarchs were absolute monarchs. He also advocated the separation of powers: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. De l’Esprit des loix served as a model to American founding fathers.

Slavery condemned
A man is innocent until a jury finds him guilty.

Moreover, although Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws is descriptive, he had opinions. For instance, Montesquieu condemned slavery and we owe him the notion that a man is innocent until a jury finds him guilty. Therefore, there is advocacy in De l’Esprit des loix.

L'Esprit des lois

De l’Esprit des loix, 1749 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Local vs international laws: a Problem

United States Declaration of Independence (1776)
Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen (1789)

The relativity of laws is problematical and, therefore, an issue I would like to raise in this post, though not at great length. At the moment, we have local laws as well as an international law, and an international criminal court, at The Hague, Netherlands. Moreover, we have the United Nations‘ Universal Declaration of Human Rights /la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme (UDHR) and other international agencies. Yet, although we have endowed ourselves with international covenants, it remains possible to torture people and detain individuals rather gratuitously.

When Montesquieu wrote his Spirit of the Laws (1748), there were no official and stated “human rights.” But it should be said that, during the 18th century, the age of Enlightenment, various philosophes sought the recognition of individual and collective human rights. Voltaire (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778) advocated freedom of religion, freedom of expression and the separation of church and state. (See Voltaire, Wikipedia.)

In fact, the 18th century culminated in the United States Declaration of Independence  drafted by Thomas Jefferson (13 April 1743 – 4 July 1826), who owned slaves, and the French Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen, drafted by the Marquis de Lafayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), assisted by Thomas Jefferson, and passed by the National Constituent Assembly in August 1789.

Yet, nearly three centuries later, the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights /la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme (UDHR), adopted on 10 December 1948, seems as utopian as the United States Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

President Obama is trying to save the middle class, but resistance is enormous. Equality is difficult to achieve. As for other abuses of human rights, they constitute a common occurrence.

I would like to suggest that, despite the very real possibility of infringements, it would be in humankind’s best interest to implement, within limits, its international covenants and, in particular, its human rights as defined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Portrait of a Painter, Ottoman Dynasty

Portrait of a Painter,
Ottoman Dynasty (Photo credit: Wikimedia)

Nature vs Culture: the Importance of  “Natural Laws”

Raif Badawi
Muath al-Kasasbeh

Given such violations as the sentence inflicted on Raif Badawi, it would be my opinion that the abolition of torture should be given serious and prompt attention at an international level. It should override local laws. There are areas where there cannot be a double standard. Torture is one such area. Moreover, ISIL must be crushed.

It is “natural,” rather than “cultural,” for a caring wife to do all she can to spare her husband punishment he does not deserve and which constitutes torture, a blatant infringement of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is also “natural,” rather than “cultural,” for Muath-al-Kasasbeh‘s father to grieve the burning alive of a beloved son and to call for revenge.

The entire world is condemning this crime against “humanity.” I have noticed that the media have started describing Mr Badawi as the “father of three.” An innocent “father of three” is a greater victim than an innocent blogger. Raif Badawi should not be tortured and arbitrarily incarcerated. In fact, this is a “natural” rather than “cultural” law.

As King Abdullah II of Jordan stated, the Muslim faith does not condone such cruelty as the burning alive of Muath al-Kasasbeh. Gone are the days, or gone should be the days, we burned at the stake 19-year-old Joan of Arc.

Humankind has long yearned for the best possible government.[2] We have already discussed the theories of such political philosophers as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, all of whom came to the conclusion that the rule of law, just laws, had to prevail.

Conclusion

President Obama is saying that “the fight against violent extremism demands a new approach.” I believe this is what I have been attempting to state in this post.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2015/02/21/combating-violent-extremism-demands-a-new-approach

It would be my opinion, that a good education would help prevent radicalization. A good education does seem the best tool we have to bring about lasting changes. What have we been teaching our children? They are still joining ISIL as though it were an option. It isn’t. Could it be that we have not been teaching our children to think? If they do not think they may fall prey to indoctrination and terrorize the world.

In short, to what extent should respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  /la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme (UDHR) be based on consent and membership? And to what extent should local laws allow serious violations of human rights. Laws vary from country to country, but no local law should allow a serious infringement of international law.

So let me quote President Obama once again: “Violent extremism demands a new approach.”

I experienced difficulties writing this post. Proposing that individual nations  comply with international law is a sensitive matter. Absolute monarchs do as they please and terrorists are not amenable to reason. But when humanity is besieged, one looks for a remedy, a remedy which may consist in respecting human rights which is international law.

My kindest regards to all of you.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

Michel de Montaigne: Essays (complete) EN
Descartes’ Discourse on Method is Gutenberg [EBook #59] EN
Pascal Pensées is Gutenberg [EBook #18269] EN
Montesquieu: The Spirit of the laws (complete, 4 volumes) EN
Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws (Internet Archives; Book 1) EN
Persian Letters: Internet Archives (complete) EN
Persian Letters: Wikisource (complete) EN

Michel de Montaigne: Essais FR
René Descartes: Discours de la méthode is Gutenberg [EBook #13846] FR  Montesquieu: De l’Esprit des lois [EBook #27573] FR
Lettres persanes, tome 1 is Gutenberg [EBook #30268] FR
Lettres persanes, tome 2 is Gutenberg [EBook #33896] FR
Pascal: Pensées, Internet Archive FR

____________________

[1] See Essays, Book 1, last two chapters.

[2] Since Plato’s Republic, if not earlier.

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© Micheline Walker
22 February 2015
updated on 23 February 2015
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