From: "Tosca Zraikat EDA" <T.Zraikat-AT-eda.gu.edu.au>
Date:          Thu, 17 Aug 1995 10:47:25 GMT+10000
Subject:       Re: Portrait of an Arab


Mona, 
it seems to me that whether Arab voices are "allowed" to speak or 
whether there are listeners, they will only be able to participate in 
global discourses if they DO speak - even if their ability to erode 
existing prejudices seems minimal.  I was aghast at the immediate 
assumption of Arab terrorism upon the Oklahoma bombing, but no more 
than I am aghast at news comments here about - middle eastern looking 
suspects - of ethnic appearance (what on earth does that mean?) - or 
even politicians' comments along the line of - immigrants must learn 
that violence/murder/etc is not on here!!

The most effective representation the Arab peoples can hope to have 
in the Western media are those who refuse to led into self-defensive 
stances or to have the dialogues turned back upon terrorism as though 
it were an Arab trait (although I believe a gross misapplication of 
political action).
Part of the problem  seems to be the unwillingness of many Arab 
communities to tolerate internal dissent, and their attempts to 
assert a unified Arab voice - the Arab identity itself is highly 
questionable from within despite of Western blanket applications of 
the nomenclature AND efforts by parts of the Arab world to promote a 
single, united Arab identity.  Internally generated  interrogation of women under 
Islam, of terrorism (such as the excellent dialogue on Saddam last 
night on SBS) etc. pave the way for Arab voices to set their own 
agendas in public dialogues, to interrogate Western histories, 
policies etc. outside of a defensive context also.
I have not thought this through as carefully as I would like, and am 
not as informed as I would like, but it seems that there is a 
definite move by some Arab voices towards a discourse that is not 
based upon dichotemies of religion etc.
Tosca Zraikat


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