‘This enemy of my enemy stuff doesn’t work’

Al-Qalam, December 2007
Just over half a century ago, we witnessed one of the most despicable events – lasting more than half a decade – in contemporary history being perpetrated from within the heart of Europe and dragging much of the world into a war. That “event” was Nazi rule in Germany, the Second World War (or the Second European Tribal War, as Malcolm X preferred to call it) caused by that rule and, most especially, the deliberate, planned and systematic genocide of a number of groups of people: Jews, Roma (gypsies), homosexuals, etc.

The scale of that holocaust against all these groups and the systematic nature of it is what makes it one of the greatest tragedies of our time. It is a tragedy that must be remembered, commemorated and learnt from. The message of “Never again” that has become a favourite refrain of Jews – especially survivors of the genocide and their families – must become a driving force in international politics. Never again to genocide, never again to holocaust, never again to ethnic cleansing, never again to the driving of people out of their homes and the creation of refugee populations, never again to the attempt to wipe out entire groups of people on the basis of their ethnicity, “race” (a fallacious concept in itself but one which is used to categorise people nevertheless), class, sexual orientation, religion…

Of course, the “Never again” call and commitment has not seized all people around the world. Hence we saw, just over ten years ago, the genocide in Rwanda; hence we see the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians (by those whose people were victims of the Nazi holocaust). History is also witness, of course, to holocausts and genocides before the mid-20^th Century: the European holocaust against native Americans (or First Nations as many prefer to call themselves) and Australian aboriginals being just two recent examples. Many of these (recorded as well as, I am sure, unrecorded) were worse in scale than that perpetrated by Nazi Germany. For example, 80 million First Nations people were murdered in an attempt to completely wipe them off the face of the earth.

However, we should not be thinking in terms of one holocaust being more important than another or allowing one to detract from another. Genocides anywhere in the world, perpetrated against whomever in the world, require our attention and our condemnation. Thus, whether there were genocides before or after 1945 does not detract from the enormous tragedy of the Nazi holocaust. Nor should there be any detraction from this event by the fact of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians (even if the holocaust in Germany was used as an excuse for this ethnic cleansing). The slow genocide against the Palestinian people is the quintessential moral tragedy of the day, but it cannot cause us to ignore other moral tragedies. Nor should there be any detraction by the fact that the Nazi holocaust has become an “industry” that is abused for various agendas – including to justify the oppression of the Palestinian people (see Norman Finkelstein’s The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering).

The fact is that a holocaust took place in Europe in the middle of the 20^th Century. The fact is that there was an intention and attempt by the Nazis to destroy the entire Jewish nation. These facts are sufficient for us all, today and forever, to stand on the side of those opposing holocaust, genocide and all forms of injustice. Jews should be the foremost in these struggles – as they have been in many other struggles.

That I take the Qur’an extremely seriously forces me to want to have nothing to do with those who – for whatever reason or agenda – seek to deny these facts. And it really doesn’t matter to me whether it was 5,999,999 or 6,000,001 Jews and / or others that were killed by Hitler and his murderous followers. It was a genocide against the Jewish people and that is enough for me to be repulsed by it.

That is why I find the recent conference that took place in Iran to be so jarring to my sensibilities. It is not just silly, untactical, not good for the cause of the Palestinian people and insensitive – as others have said. All these are true. But, more important is its attempt – even if only from part of the contingent of 67 speakers, to deny a historical fact and a moral truth. And, being so, it is a psychological rejection of the “Never again” that should be inspiring us. This conference should not have happened, bringing together the people that were brought together. I don’t deny that there might have been some good people (I have great respect for the rabbis of Neturei Karta, for example, who do not deny the Nazi holocaust and support the Palestinian struggle against Zionist racism), but that is beside the point.

What moral, spiritual, legal or political purpose can be served by bringing together people who insist that the number of Jews murdered was not 6 million and people who are arch-racists? I understand the organisers’ insistence that the conference is about allowing freedom of speech, particularly to those deniers of the Nazi holocaust who are not allowed that freedom in Europe or North America. (Remember David Irving who has been sentenced to three years imprisonment in Austria for claiming that the holocaust against Jews did not happen?) Such liars and racists have the right to free speech, but does a Muslim nation need to create the space for them to propagate those lies and hatred?

A friend wrote to me a few days ago about an interview on CNN by Wolf Blitzer (former lobbyist for the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)) with David Duke, former head of the Ku Klux Klan who was one of the 67 speakers at the Iran conference. She said:

[Duke] is not just a “former” klansman, he’s still an avowed racist and Americans, especially African Americans, know this. You don’t just wake and decide one morning that you’re not a racist anymore, that takes years of hard work even for soft racists like your average Joe who has beers with his black neighbor and once dated a Latina in high school… Those agreeing with [Duke] are the same people who call us islamofascists. This enemy of my enemy stuff doesn’t work. This conference was counterproductive, reactionary and damaging.

My friend is an African-American Muslim who knows very well what emotions the name of David Duke evokes among African-Americans. For those that don’t know him, a visit to his website will show that the views of the KKK are deeply entrenched in his mind.

Struggles for justice are important; they are what make us human. A deep-seated passion against injustice is crucial in order for us to continue to maintain that humanity. But these struggles themselves must be based on truth, on justice and on always maintaining the moral high ground.

“Stand out firmly for justice,” the Qur’an says, “even as against yourselves…”