I received this email via a good friend, who is living and teaching in China. He has a lot to say, but all of it very relevant. I find many folks here in the UK and Ireland can't understand why Americans are the way we are. How as the world's super power can we be so blind. Well here is a bit of brain food... Thanks Jason!
It's November 4 in Bangkok, a day of exhaustion and exasperation for most of the American faculty here at Ruamrudee International School. Exhaustion because most of us have spent the last 36 hours glued to our computer or television screens awaiting the results from the elections back home, exasperation because most of us were ardent Kerry supporters (or, more honestly, Bush opposers). Alas, the wish of millions of overseas Americans to be able to tell a local that you come from the United States without following the claim immediately with an apology for the actions of our president will not come true this year. Next time I get in a taxi and I am asked, "where you come from?" I will once again have to laugh nervously while deciding whether I have the energy to explain that I'm American but don't agree with what our government does, or just take the easy way out and tell the driver I'm Canadian. If I do not immediately follow my answer with an explanation of my stance, the driver would invariably hurl a barrage of anti-Bush comments at me... not without good reason of course.
In the meantime, while Bush is keeping farmers and football fans safe from terrorists back home, the war on terror continues to rage in new corners of the world. Been thinking about taking that idylic vacation to the beautiful palmy regions of Southern Thailand after visiting Liz and I in Bangkok soon? Well you might want to think again, our Prime Minister is waging his own war on terror (stamped mandate from Bush in hand, no doubt) against the predominantly Muslim population in the South. Just last Monday, as soccer moms, NASCAR dads, blue color factorymen, and American's of every ilk were being reminded by another White House flunky that the forces of evil were plotting new and terrible ways to blow up the nearest strip mall, 1,000 Muslim teenagers and young adults gathered outside a Thai police station to peacefully protest what they considered racist treatment by local cops. 87 of them went home in body bags that night. Our PM defended the actions of local police, claiming that they responded to the protest with appropriate measures, by firing waves of bullets into the crowds of unarmed youth... The next day the leader of a local organization working for greater religious freedom in Thailand's three muslim states made an oath that the deaths of these young muslims would not go unpunished, promising there would be bomb attacks on Bangkok in retribution. The War on Terror rages on...
Oh yes, the War on Terror is one that strikes at the hearts of all Americans, as it well should. The forces of darkness are lurking among the grain silos and truckstops of middle America, plotting their next atrocity on the hapless, God fearing American people. Surely we must can trust Bush to "chase the terrorists wherever they hide, killing them... while spreading Freedom and Democracy along the way" (quoted from his closing statement in the 2nd presidential debate). I could not help but picture a "Freedom Fairy" gossamer wings afloat, a smile of loving kindess alighting her beautiful face, gunning down fleeing Arabs and spreading "democracy dust" across the corpses she leaves in her wake. This is the vision of America that Bush puts in my mind, and I can't blame the taxi driver for his barrage of remarks when he hears I am American, because to him, I represent this image of domination, control, imperialism... the War on Terror... chase the enemy, kill them, spread democracy and, oh yeah, freedom... surely it will work... America: We Kill for Peace. As does Thailand now, apparently.
As I was speaking with a British colleague yesterday, we came to the conclusion that being as the US President is the leader of the Free World (not many would argue against that), perhaps the American people should have taken into account what the rest of the Free World (whatever that means) thinks of the current president when deciding who to vote for. International polls in the days leading up to the election showed Kerry with about 75 percent of the support across various Western and Asian countries... the Free World... those whose citizens the American president leads, the voices of Freedom that will never be heard across the corn fields and bible belt of Middle America.
In another discussion with an American friend, he told me that in all honesty, the thought of an enemy of individuals who were willing to die for the ideology they believed in frightened him, that perhaps the War on Terror was right to chase them down and kill these ideological zealots. I thought about the 1100 Americans who have died for something they believed in over the last 18 months in Iraq, were they not fighting for an ideological system, one that the president would have us believe is "good"? Good versus Evil, the War on Terror... When will it end? When Evil has been defeated... I ask, how do you define Goodness in the abscence of Evil? Doesn't one need the other? Don't try to fool us Bush, Evil cannot be defeated, the War on Terror will never end... but that's how it is meant to be...
In the meantime security forces are clamping down on Muslims in Southern Thailand, each day minor conflicts result in deaths on both sides... Our PM acts without fear of criticism from the West, after all, it's a War... people die... Thailand's just acting on the Mandate from the leader of the Free World Himself...
I visited a Thai mosque near our school a couple of weeks ago and sat down with the local Iman. With the help of our school secretary as a translator, my colleague and I had a wonderful conversation with the Iman and several of the community elders about the history of Islam in Thailand, the story of the 150 year old teak wood mosque, and the relationship between Thailand and the muslim community. I felt so welcome and comfortable in the beautiful setting of the mosque, a kilometer from the nearest road, at the confluence of two of Bangkok's countless canals... palm trees blowing in the breeze. The Iman gave us a tour of the mosque, and when we went up the stairs to an open air classroom for Islamic studies, I was suprised to see about 20 little kids sprawled out on the teak wood floor asleep in the afternoon heat... They were the pre-schoolers from the community whose parents drop them off at the mosque while they go off to work during the day. I almost tripped on a three year old boy, who rolled lazily onto his back, briefly opened his eyes to smile at me then flung his arms over his head and flipped back onto his stomach. This is the face of the enemy... we must chase them, kill them, wipe out Evil before it wipes out us...
As I explored the beautiful teak building it dawned on me that muslim communities like this one three hundred miles to the south were under attack for their desire to practice religion the way they choose. We had been welcomed so openly by the Iman and his peers... of course they wanted to make sure we weren't Bush supporters, a question that came up almost immediately after sitting down to talk, not surprisingly. In my Issues in World Religions class we have begun discussing religious conflicts and struggles between competing ideologies. I asked my kids today to write down everything they knew and didn't know about the conflict with Muslims in the south... After looking over their comments after class I saw that almost all of them perceived the Muslim community as a group of terrorists who are targetting innocent Thais, in the name of "religion". Living in Bangkok, much like living in any city in the US, my students are under the influence and control of the corporate media. Of the two major daily papers in Bangkok, one is owned by the prime minister's family... one of the three public television stations is government run, and all other media outlets are controlled by a handful of cronies with close ties to the PM and his powerful family. And just like in the US, the news these kids receive has been twisted and spun to present a version of a story that is once sided and in line with the "official" story according to the government. As a result the kids' perception of the struggle for religious autonomy in the South is one where Muslim terrorists are waging war on the authority of the Thai government... one where Thais are never wrong thus don't have to apologize when useless massacres occur, as the protest slaughter of last Monday.
There are very few Muslim students at my school, and the ones we do have are what you'd call "non-practicing". Most of my students know as much about as Islam as they see on the evening news and read in the local papers (also, not unlike in the United States!) The purpose of our visiting the mosque near school was to try to begin a relationship between the local Mulsim community and students at our school, in the hopes that we can attain some sort of reconciliation in the face of a conflict that looks to escalate and likely become close to home should the promise of bomb attacks in Bangkok be fulfilled. I want my students to know that Islam is not the enemy and Muslims are not terrorists. I hope they will be able to learn to respect and understand something they only fear and hate right now...
At the same time, as we embark on another four years of Good versus Evil, Us versus Them, you're either With Us or you'r e Against Us rhetoric from the Leader of the Free World, we too must reconcile our differences in view. As the War on Terror is waged in your community, our community, and new communities every day, all you can do to help bring this war to an end is wage wars of your own in your everyday life. How about a War on Ignorance, a War on Hatred, a War on Fear, a War on Bigotry, a War on Discrimination and Sexism and Racism and Oppression and Control, Environmental Destruction, Close-mindedness and Fundamentalism of all sorts... These are the wars we need to begin to fight on an individual level. Learn something about your neighbor, and you might find you love them, not fear them. Reconciliation begins only when we've made the effort to learn about someone we fear, and we see the humanity shared between all men.
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