Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 22:51:35 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Re: postcolonial-digest V2 #819


Dear Prof. Pons,
I do agree with you that the article we see to be discussing about does
present very extreme views and as a Muslims, I disagree with many of the
essentialist arguments presented in it. However, you mentioned their
'repulsive' treatment of the women.which I think is totally unjustified.as
what they are trying to do is more to do with their culture and not the
religion. They are doing something in much more crude manner what is also
being practiced in your own country.the desire of those in power to force
others to 'assimilate' (the case in point, the whole controversy of the
Muslim girls' wearing 'hijab' to school)so I think that you should have
mentioned that as well in your post

About your readiness to accept the attacks on sovereign nations, well,
again, I think that your country has an illustrious history of thatthe
case in point, Algeria and the brutal and of course 'justified' means with
which France dealt with those who dissented.. 

About the paranoia of the Muslims, well, I think that you should give a
little ground on that, for when is it ever that one hears of Muslims, if
not during the acts of terror, brutality and crudeness.... what kind of an
image do the Muslims have in your country or in the United States? What
kind of portrayal do they have in the popular media? When the actions of a
few demented people are used to hold hostage the whole of a community. Why
is it that we hear of the religious affiliations of terrorists only when
they are Muslims. How many times have you heard of Buddhist, Catholic,
Protestant or Jewish terrorists and compare it with the number of times
Muslim terrorist's religious affiliation is made a part of their actions.
So, I think that one should be a little more flexible in one's argument.

I think that one also needs to examine where these 'terrorists' (the
Taliban) have come from? How did Bin Laden end up in Afghanistanwhose
military hardware is he using.. it is was perfectly OK for these people to
use military force for these people to repel the Russians from their
country..(even though the Russians had been 'called in' by the government
of that time. Just like the American presence in Saudi Arabia..)why do you
think that it should arouse so much anger, now that people are demanding
that Americans withdraw from Saudi Arabia? Could it be that the Saudis
want to preserve their way of lifejust like the Americans which country do
you think  has killed more people than anyone else in the world to
preserve their way of life. I can assure you it is not Afghanistan?

Bye

Furrukh

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
Furrukh Khan
Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies
Rutherford College
University of Kent
Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NX
UK

Fax:   44 01227 827001
E-mail:fk2-AT-ukc.ac.uk



     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---