{"id":87596,"date":"2013-05-20T00:29:22","date_gmt":"2013-05-19T18:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=87596"},"modified":"2013-05-25T01:26:53","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T19:56:53","slug":"a-muslim-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hameed Abdul Karim<\/a><\/span> –<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hameed Abdul Karim<\/p><\/div>\n

‘The media are the eyes and the ears of the people’<\/span><\/p>\n

When was the last time you read a piece in your favourite newspaper informing you of what\u2019s going in Kashmir? Or about the nasty nature of Zionism which is the ideology of the Israeli occupiers of Palestine?<\/span><\/p>\n

Never mind. We\u2019ll come back to that in a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

For now let\u2019s celebrate the new found freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi<\/a><\/span> and rejoice with her as she basks in glory whilst world leaders fall over each other to shake her hand. She deserves every bit of accolade for her long and unfaltering and unwavering stand for freedom and justice for herself and her people against a tyrannical military junta.<\/span><\/p>\n

Years before she was set free, we had that wonderful humanist and revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela<\/a><\/span> walk out of prison after an agonising 27 year imprisonment. And the world erupted with cries of joy. His release was a death blow to the spiteful apartheid ideology of White supremacists. Only racists like former US vice president Dick Cheney thought he should remain incarcerated for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n

Another truly inspiring man that springs to mind is that ever smiling Dalai Lama<\/a><\/span> as he moves round the world looking to free his people in Tibet from Chinese rule. All freedom loving people in the world support him in one way or another and, of course, wish him luck.<\/p>\n

Who can forget Xanana Gusmao and Manuel Ramos Horta the charismatic leaders of East Timor? They gave unflinching leadership to their people as they fought the overbearing regime of Suharto. When they achieved independence there was hardly anyone around who wasn\u2019t happy for them and for their people.<\/p>\n

Then there were the Viet Cong leaders who thrashed the Americans in Vietnam. The Americans derided them as \u2018peasants in pygamas\u2019 and yet it was they who gave the Americans a hiding they haven\u2019t forgotten till today. Afghanistan was supposed to bury the ghost of Vietnam. But Afghanistan is now being described as another \u2018Vietnam\u2019. The poltergeist won\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n

Mahatma Gandhi<\/a><\/span> figures prominently in world history for his non violent struggle for his country\u2019s independence from Great Britain.\u00a0 To this day the world reveres his memory.<\/p>\n

Who can forget that enigmatic man who went by the name of Che Guevara<\/a><\/span>? Indeed his name and his memory are synonymous with any rebel seeking justice from oppressive regimes in the world. Here in Sri Lanka we have seen quite a few tuk tuks with the slogan \u2018Che Wants You to Rebel\u2019 emblazoned under his iconic picture.<\/p>\n

Then there is Fidel Castro<\/a><\/span>. To this day he inspires people all over the world with insightful discourse on Western imperialism<\/p>\n

What is common among all these charismatic and extraordinary leaders is that virtually all the print media in Sri Lanka supported them and their causes to the hilt with nary a word of criticism, and quite rightly so. There was absolutely no \u2018balance\u2019 in the articles giving the \u2018other side\u2019 of the story. And this was a laudable line of attack because their causes were certainly just.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to the issue of Kashmir<\/a><\/span> and Palestine<\/a><\/span> there seems to be a deafening silence within the press with media authorities calling for a \u2018balance\u2019 or in other words wanting to give both sides of the story. There was no \u2018balance\u2019 in the stories of apartheid or Indonesia\u2019s occupation of East Timor or the stories of the legendary Che Guevara, because it is impossible to balance right with wrong, or justice with injustice, or\u00a0 good with evil, or truth with falsehood or oppressor with the oppressed.<\/p>\n

Have we read anywhere in any of our newspapers anybody attempting to \u2018balance\u2019 already held beliefs about Hitler and his gangs of Nazis?<\/p>\n

In the case of Kashmir, clearly India is the oppressor. Kashmir is described in the Orwellian brand name of India\u2019s choosing – \u2018Indian Administered Kashmir\u2019 while Azad Kashmir is referred to as \u2018Pakistani Occupied Kashmir\u2019, that is in the rare moments when some news escapes India\u2019s strict censorship on information on its occupation of Kashmir.<\/p>\n

In the case of Palestine it\u2019s patently clear that Israel is the oppressor. But still Israel is handled with kid\u2019s gloves. Favourable news of Israel often get\u2019s published in the print media here in Sri Lanka<\/a><\/span> when the local press carries stories from foreign newspapers or Western news agencies which are virulently biased in Israel\u2019s favour. The authors of these reports don\u2019t care two hoots for \u2018balance\u2019.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s recent dismissal of Rachel Corrie\u2019s case is a perfect illustration of how the Western media supports Israel in its gross violations of human rights and international law. Going by the reports in the Western media, readers might be pardoned if they assumed Rachel Corrie was a \u2018terrorist\u2019 as indeed hinted by some reports.<\/p>\n

At least two local papers often \u2018copy and paste\u2019 stories from the \u2018The Daily Mail\u2019 and \u2018The Telegraph\u2019, both are known to be ardent supporters of Israel. They have never been known to direct a single word of criticism against the Zionist state. Why, as recently as the 4th of August 2012 the \u2018Daily Mail\u2019 castigated the BBC for its alleged \u2018anti-Israel\u2019 stand! And \u2018The Telegraph\u2019 gave a distorted and shameless view of the anti-Israeli protesters who stopped an Israeli dance performance at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival. Neither of these two papers thought they should \u2018balance\u2019 their reports. Yet we have to look for \u2018balance\u2019.<\/p>\n

For sure the local press was \u2018Palestine friendly\u2019 at one point of time. But then the Israeli ambassador to Sri Lanka (stationed in New Delhi) came a calling. He had a few have chats with heads of newspapers and\u00a0 ever since then articles that project the reality of Zionism and Israel\u2019s pitiless occupation of Palestine came to an abrupt end. Were his \u2018lectures\u2019 to our media personnel the reason why Zionism is not dealt with in the same way as were Apartheid<\/a><\/span> and Nazism<\/a><\/span>? Evil is evil, even though it may come in different hues.<\/p>\n

Sometime one wonders why Kashmir and Palestine are been given a step motherly treatment? Why are these two issues not treated as humanitarian ones like the conflicts mentioned above? Could it be because of the \u2018Muslim\u2019 thing?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":77040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms"],"yoast_head":"\nA \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing? - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing? - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-19T18:59:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-24T19:56:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"124\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"124\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/\",\"name\":\"A \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing? - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-19T18:59:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-24T19:56:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png\",\"width\":\"124\",\"height\":\"124\",\"caption\":\"Hameed Abdul Karim\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing? - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing? - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2013-05-19T18:59:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-05-24T19:56:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":124,"height":124,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/","name":"A \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing? - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png","datePublished":"2013-05-19T18:59:22+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-24T19:56:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png","width":"124","height":"124","caption":"Hameed Abdul Karim"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-muslim-thing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A \u2018Muslim\u2019 Thing?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hameed.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87596"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88360,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87596\/revisions\/88360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}