UNLV Great Decisions Soap Box
By Ahmad A. (Andy) Amid
Presented 12/08/03
Great Decisions is a
national educational program of the private, non-profit, Foreign Policy Association (www.fpa.org) based in New York City. The program is designed
both to educate as well as to elicit input from its citizens on current U.S. foreign policy. In Las Vegas Great Decisions is under
the auspices of Excell, the Center For Lifelong Learning, through the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
Each year the FPA
provides a list of eight current foreign policy topics for discussion by interested
citizens. Each of the eight topics is discussed in a guidebook provided for a nominal fee.
In addition the FPA provides a thought-provoking video for many of the topics. UNLV’s
Great Decision’s program operates rather autonomously: the class selects the
coordinator (or, more recently, co-coordinators) and the coordinators arrange for speakers
for each topic. This past year topics included the following: Weapons of Mass Destruction;
Media and Foreign Policy; Muslim Diversity and its Challenges to U.S. Policy; The
Philippines, and Middle East Political Reform. Having sat through twelve weeks (twelve
weeks in order to jibe with the University semester length) I relished the opportunity to
do a ten minute “Soap Box,” reserved for the last class. As intended for the
“Soap Box” the following are my thoughts in response to speakers’ comments
and class discussion over the semester.
I recall my college
days when we studied ancient Chinese philosophy. According to one ancient concept in
Chinese philosophy there is a Yin and Yang—a bad and a good in all living
things. In this philosophy Yin and Yang is within each person. The embodiment of Yin
and Yang could be applied to governments. So governments have a good side and a bad
side. Accordingly it may be said there is a good America and a bad America. We are all familiar
with the good America: it has a well-grounded
constitution. It is charitable. It supports freedom of expression (this soap box is
evidence of that) and economic opportunity and, over the years, has fought against
tyranny. One could go on listing the many positive attributes of our country. It was the
belief in these attributes for which I, as a young man, eagerly enlisted to serve my
country. But then we have the bad America. The America which, more
recently, has chosen to ignore the rights framed in our constitution as established by our
founding fathers, an America which is the sole remaining super power on this planet,
incapable of being militarily challenged by any nation or group of nations…and which
most recently has adopted a foreign policy of “might makes right.” A country
with 5% of the world’s population consuming almost 1/3 of the world’s
resources—from 500 to 700% greater than the proportion of our population—and
that is not enough! We have an insatiable appetite, insatiable meaning incapable of being
satisfied. We need to feed our consumption
addition like a drug addict. We unabashedly covet countries for their resources, and will
exercise any powers at our disposal to acquire those resources…the natives be damned.
It’s called “looking after our interests.” Our current wanton foreign
policy is tantamount to the resurrection of the Manifest Destiny, that we have a God given
right to expand our political, social and economic influences wherever we wish. A New
Imperialism, if you will. If Saudi Arabia is the 800 lb canary
perhaps we may be viewed as the 2000 lb cat. In our quest to spread democracy, oops, I
mean freedom, we need to do some soul searching and ask ourselves if our goal is to
achieve freedom for people in other countries so they can pursue their aspirations and
live happily and peacefully or does freedom to us mean the freedom for us to obtain
economic advantages so we can exploit others?
I believe world
peace…with justice, is achievable. America has within its
grasp the power to bring a just world peace to fruition. The operative word is
“just.” At the risk of appearing quixotic or simply put, wildly impractical, I
would like to offer some key considerations that, maybe, can help bring world peace:
Number 1. The
moderates of each faith must work together. We have more in common with one another than
we have with the extremists within our own faith. Accordingly the extremists of each faith
have more in common with each other. They are the ones who are intolerant of other faiths.
Number 2.
Incorporating into one’s principles that the pursuit of truth must transcend
loyalty. Whether you are an Arab or Muslim in Iraq, a Jew in Israel or a Christian
in America you must not
let your patriotic fervor or allegiance to your country temper your need to seek out the
truth.
Number 3. The
application of justice, meaning applying the same rules to all parties…being
equitable. Start off by defining your terms and applying them uniformly. Based on the
current reckless application of the term “terrorists” the French
Resistance” during WWII might meet that definition.
Number 4.
Americans tend to be ethnocentric…believing that the world revolves around us. We
need to keep in mind that not everyone is at the same level of social development (and
that could be good or bad) or economic point in time as we are. We are offended at
some Muslim countries treatment of women. Perhaps rightly so. But keep in mind that it was
only a little more than 70 years ago that women in America achieved the
right to vote and only 40 years since African-Americans began achieving their civil
rights.
Number 5. The
educated approach to understanding issues is to seek out differing points of view. A jury
must do this before passing judgment. On a personal basis this might be analogous to
having empathy, i.e. the need to see things from the other person’s or other
side’s point of view…whether between spouses in a marriage, or between peoples
of different countries. Walk in their shoes. Try to understand their concerns and their
pain. I was born and raised in the Muslim faith. Prior to my recent transplant from Ohio to Nevada I was involved
with interfaith groups. Over the years I’ve spoken to various Christian groups. I was
often impressed with the willingness of the people to try to understand our faith and
concerns from our point of view. If the Christian, Jews and Muslim moderates work together
the adverse influences of their respective extremists will diminish.
Before picking up the sword it is
incumbent upon us to hear the opposing party’s views of the problem. Do not prejudge
until you have established the facts. It is not easy to get Arabs’ and Muslims’
views presented to the public. Americans are entitled. We need to challenge our thinking
because ignorance breeds fear.
I will be willing to serve as a resource
or direct you to resources where you can gain differing perspectives of issues involving
Arabs and Muslims.
Ahmed
A. (Andy) Amid, currently residing in Nevada,
was born in Detroit
to Lebanese Muslim parents and raised in Toledo,
Ohio.
He has been an ongoing activist and advocate for Arab-American and Muslim causes for over
half a century.
June 12, 2004 |