IN SEARCH OF A HOLY WAR

[col. writ. 9/27/01]  

2001 Mumia Abu-Jamal

"Fervor is the weapon of choice of the impotent." -- Dr. Frantz Fanon

Throughout American history, one thing has remained constant; the continuous effort of the state, and its ruling elites, to demonize some person, or some group, as a predicate for war.

We are all in the midst of but the latest expression of this exercise. This was visible in the very first hours after the suicide bombings and destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and the aerial strike against the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Remember when the politicians lectured the nation about, "This is a battle between good and evil"?  How about, "This is against those who oppose civilization itself"?

There is a close tie, but the latest figures for global demonization are Usama bin-Ladin and the ruling clique in war-ravaged Afghanistan, the Taliban.

What is interesting, when you look back a few years, is the  similarity with other historical figures, like Saddam Hussein, or Manuel Noriega of Panama.

Why are these disparate figures similar?

Well, before the U.S. media machine assured us they were devils incarnate, they boasted of their friendship with the Americans.   Messrs. bin-Ladin, Hussein and the forerunners of the Taliban were armed, and/or trained by the CIA, or directly by the military industries, to fight against the Russians (then the Soviets) and the Iranians under the late Ayatollah Khomeini.  General Noriega was best buds with George I (the former President) Bush, as long as  he was helping U.S. efforts to destabilize the Sandinistas when they ran Nicaragua.  When he got tired of playing along with Washington, the media began its drumbeat against the General.  "He's dealing in drugs!" "His government isn't democratic!"

The Taliban's biggest exposure, before 11 Sept., 2001, was the destruction of ancient Buddhist shrines in Afghanistan.  When I heard of it, I could not help but think of the acts of Pope Gregory I, of whom it is said:

Marble statues of ancient Rome were torn down,
 most notably by Gregory the Great, and made
into lime. Architectural marbles and mosaics
were either made into lime or went to adorn
cathedrals all over Europe and as far away as
Westminster Abbey in London.  The ravaging
of marble works accounts for the thin ornate
slabs WITH ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS STILL
FOUND IN MANY CHURCHES TODAY.
 (H. Ellerbe, The Dark Side of Christian History,
 [1995], p. 50)

Are the Taliban unique in their aversion to women?  The great Church Father, Tertullian once said of women:

You are the devil's gateway: you are the
unsealer of that tree: you are the first
deserter of the divine law: you are she who
persuaded him (Adam) whom the devil
was not valiant enough to attack.  You
destroyed so easily God's image, man.
On account of your desert -- that is, death --
even the Son of God had to die.
 (Ellerbe, p. 115).

The 6th Century Christian philosopher, Boethius once wrote, ain his The Consolation of Philosophy, "Woman is a temple built upon a sewer."

Few are the writers and historians who point to such Christian historical figures and label them as "religious fanatics."

And before some wag claims I am an apologist for the Taliban, I need only point out that it was the U.S. CIA, who paved the way for them to come into being, by their support of the destruction of the Soviet-backed Najibullah government.  Afghanistan is the way it is today, because the American CIA, and Pakistani intelligence wanted it that way.

Let us beware of religious wars.

Being human, we have more than enough madness to go around.

 

 

 

Text © copyright 2001 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of the author.

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