Ali Eteraz on how the left can safely criticize "Muslim Human Right Hypocricy". First, the pretzel logic explaining why the left is too often silent :
Western liberals generally shy away from calling Muslim states out on their human rights duplicity. There are many reasons for this. Some of us come from post-colonial theory and believe that the real cause of repression in the Muslim world is the history of Western colonialism. Others among us take the position that we are not in a position to extol human rights norms upon Muslim states given our own violations. Yet others simply abstain from speaking out against violence and repression in Muslim states because we do not wish to provide the right wing hawks with more justification for creating war. This reluctance is reasonable. However, the reluctance degenerates to silence, which then allows our right wing peers to appropriate (and hijack) the entire human rights project. Once appropriated, the right wing then determines which "solutions" to apply. Most of their solutions rely upon force.
So, basically, the reason the left stays silent is 1) it's the West's fault to begin with, 2) the West is just as bad and 3) speaking truth to power will only encourage more Western aggression.
Ok. Got it.
I can hardly wait, though, until his next installment on the series.
In my next post I will discuss how a Western progressive can speak with a clean conscience with a dissident who does not seem to accept the separation of mosque and state.
Tell me you're not dying to know!
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