"Poverty in Philosophy"

Saturated in much Western political philosophy, popular culture and consciousness is this conception of the "Individual" standing against some collective and faceless horde which is attempting to stamp it out. It demonstrates the annoying symptoms of a centuries old classical education that has inculcated the arrogant belief that Western civilization sprung from Greece, whose individuality and pluckiness faced down the Persian hordes. I won't even go into this ridiculous notion, but that some people internalise this perspective unflinchingly annoys me to no end - not just with regards to Lebanon's political crisis but in relations to China as well. That people may feel this way about strangers or "others" is not surprising, that it is enshrined as so central to much Western political thought is. This is what makes reading anyone the likes of Mill or Rawls so annoying, their repackaging of the completely obvious and mundane into something exclusive and exceptional - what they advocate is akin to freezing society at the emotional age of a six year old. Below is a short extract of an essay I had written on Mill which got me thinking about this post and what I was trying to say.

*Continuation - just for Abu Fares*

Mill presents us with an amusing narrative as a backdrop, arguing that human history has been marked by the struggle between Liberty and Authority. Writing from what he believes is the civilised part of the world, Mill claims that in the course of this struggle, the relationship between ruler and ruled has undergone three distinct stages of development, the last of which sets the context for his liberty principle. In the first and second stages, the interests of government are opposed to those of the people and most energy is spent on limiting the scope of the ruler in the first stage and making the government accountable to them in the second. In the third and final stage however, a problem emerges. The interests of the government and the people who have elected it are said to have merged to the point where no meaningful distinction can be made between the two, "The nation did not need to be protected against its own will. There was no fear of its tyrannizing over itself.", or is there? According to Mill, an elected government did not necessarily mean that it represented all the people, only that part of the population which was most politically active would have done so. As such, should a minority exist and which finds itself in disagreement with the majority; government and society (meaning the majority) impose limitations on the liberty of the minority either through imposing norms, custom or morality. The result is a social tyranny which "enslaves the soul". For Mill, the prime concern should be how to safeguard the liberty of this minority and prevent the suppression of their individuality by "the tyranny of the majority". The individual must be sovereign over themselves, their bodies and their minds and society may expect things from them or impose punishments only when the conduct of the individual will harm others. So far so good right for Mill, in our present day what he is saying sounds almost like a truism and many people, without realising Mill's influence on them, actually live their lives precisely along such lines.

Yet ultimately there is a problem with this morality. It is the morality I see around me permeating throughout liberal societies, the morality of no morality. It is mixed with more ideas associated with modernisation, the creation of "spheres" in a persons life, like they can be different people in different spheres and should be judged accordingly. Essentially the "Individual" is so central, so sacred and apparently unique to Western civilisation. An individual may at times be called upon to perform a duty to society if their lack of involvement may cause more harm (such as jury service) but towards themselves the Individual has no duty. This is in sharp contrast with older Eastern societies where the individual is inculcated from childhood with a sense of duty to themselves, their family and the society in which they live. When the two moralities or senses of identity meet, there is usually a clash. This obsession in Western political thought with the Liberty of the individual from government and it's control, Isaiah Berlin's "negative freedom", confused me. We hear constantly how Western societies are free, how they hold the Individual sacred and how much better off we would be if we followed their form of political organisation. It is not until you live in these countries that you realise the price that has come with their development, the state is capable, and in fact does exercise, but ever so subtly, the most incredible interference with not only the individuals life, but also the development of their thought. From cradle to grave the state imposes it's morality on acceptable and unacceptable areas of outrage or discourse. In many ways, I understand what Mill is on about, but what even he couldn't realise was the outrageous implementation of his liberty principle to maintain a society of people trapped by their desires. Guilt free and with a compartmentalised life for work and play, the status quo of society is maintained as people get on with their lives in anyway they see fit, as long as they conform to the dictates and needs of Capital. The Individual of Western society is unique, just like everybody else, and is a cog in a complex machine.

Yaman had recently written a post analysing Iron Man and the way that perceptions of the Other are perpetuated and presented to the audiences. At the time I didn't think that his expending such effort and analysis on the story of a comic book superhero was wise, yet in hindsight, there is something we are being told here. In much Western discourse, there is a paranoia and deep rooted terror of the faceless hordes always amassing and plotting their destruction. It is not new, it is old, for even Mill refers to the more advanced Asian societies as peoples with "no history". Mill was educated from an early age in Greek and Latin literature and philosophy. Here it is easy to see where the tradition for 300 would have come from, the free tribes of individuals, heroically defending themselves against the faceless, corrupt and perverse "empire". The barbarians coming to destroy their "way of life", we see parallels with the so called War on Terror and some of the speeches given by Bush. Yet if you look at the popular cultures in any other societies in Asia, Africa or the Arab world, this is missing in spite of the massive damage inflicted by European colonialism. Past or present, yes there is the fear of barbarians and outside invasion - but such deep seated and perpetual fear of the faceless menace? I can't seem to think of any examples though admit I might be catastrophically wrong.

My trip last year to Syria made me realise something. I saw loud, noisy and boisterous people in Syria who refuse to adhere to any regulations, to political correctness and always with an opinion about anything. Arguing and struggling throughout their lives, yet living and living well. True representations of Eudaimonia if ever there was one singled out and pointed to. That political freedoms in Syria leave much to be desired is, I admit, true. But it is in the incompetence and weakness of "The State", as a Western form of political organisation, implanted on our organic Arab society, which allows to exist that very thing angrily demarcated here in "Modern" societies, the Individual. That so many people don't realise the folly of Western political thought as relevant and unique only to a small part of the world called Europe is absurd. That they don't realise the beauty and strength which is inherent within themselves culturally and as individuals is tragic. .

Al-Quds Club AUC 3alli Narak

In spite of initial difficulties, the al Quds Dabkeh club was finally able to perform in commemoration of the Nakbah. The original venue had withdrawn its support but luckily and thanks to the Egyptian Union of Journalists, the group were able to perform at the Journalists syndicate in Cairo.

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I watch BBC news and see a dour looking American Admiral tell the reporter that her country has a lot to give and are just waiting for the go ahead. The setting is an aircraft carrier just off the coast of Burma and the tone is critical of the Burmese government for refusing authorisation for foreign countries to drop aid. As usual, the United States is at the forefront of demonstrating their commitment to humanitarian efforts world wide, especially in resource rich countries which might be useful later. Ironic that none of this arrogance or power was available in New Orleans, where people were killing each other for fresh drinking water, yet here was a battleship that, the BBC's reporter claimed, was capable of generating x tonnes of fresh drinking water a day. Incidentally, has anyone noticed how well organised and handled the effects of the earthquake in China have been? Again, contrast that with New Orleans which, I imagine, was a walk in the park to the devastation in China today. Say hello to the up and coming super power. .

60 years of Nakba, 60 years of Resistance...

The Nakba (Calamity) is the Arabic name for an event which resulted in the expulsion of over 700000 Palestinian refugees from their homeland in 1948. What we commemorate on May 15 had its roots far earlier than 1948 and its effects continue to haunt the West as we move into the twentieth century of their calendar. For sixty long years, the Palestinians have had an uphill struggle to reclaim their stolen birthright and this struggle has taken place on many levels and not just the battlefield. Arguably, one of the most important of these struggles has been that of the narrative that which we should take for the Nakba. This struggle has been as a result of Zionisms attempt to implement the very much Western maxim that "history is written by the victors". To have a particular perspective of an event and describe that as history, bearing in mind the distance and obscurity imposed on us by time, is to have everyone agree unequivocally that a particular event took place, that a number of things occurred and that there was a particular outcome. Thermopylae was a battle between the Greeks and the Persians, it was a heroic effort to withstand an invasion of Greece and it bought enough time for the Greeks to gain strength and repulse Persia. This simplified narrative is agreed upon by all, it is taught to children in school and it still manages to retain coherence when viewed through the distorting lense of American cinema. Yet the Nakba has always been a problem for the Israeli's and has forced them time and again to review how they are to deal with it yet never with any success.

In many ways, how we choose to commemorate May the 15th says a lot about us in the Arab world. Those of us who remember it as something from the past and, to put it biblically, with much "wailing and gnashing of teeth", miss the point. The Nakba did not happen and end in 1948, it has continued to this present day. You can see the Nakba in Gaza, in the refugee camps and, dare I say it, it has expanded to Iraq. However, from the Nakba we also saw the birth of resistance. From the heroism and selflessness of al Husseini and the resistance in 1948, to the battle of Karameh in '68, Beirut in '82, Iraq today and the South of Lebanon in 2006. The struggle against occupation continues, as it does against those who collaborate. May 15th reminds us of the tragedy which befell a people, our people but also strengthens our resolve to resist and to push on. Am I the last person to talk about resistance from the comfort of my home, in a country which was Israel's midwife? Perhaps, but just as a first person is necessary in a set, so is the last, and it is belonging to the set and playing your role in anyway possible which is what counts. The only thing, the easiest thing, for us to do is to forget, to count ourselves defeated or irrelevant. Each of us has a moral duty to resist zionism, empire and neo-colonialism in all aspects of our lives and it will be a poor excuse to say, one day, that you were only being realistic. The enemies of Palestine know that every person they kill or bomb they drop only creates more determination to fight them, that their time is running out. Sixty years on, the dream of ending Israel is that little bit closer. Sixty years on, the struggle continues.

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Having said what I did earlier about Gibran, the only time I feel like quoting him is when I read articles by Sami Moubayad. Then again I also feel like throwing myself out of a window when I read anything written by Syrian political 'analysts'. .

Pity the nation that runs out of poets to quote...

I cannot even look at anything by Khalil Gibran anymore. It is almost like my brain automatically glosses over as soon as I read any post or any article which includes a quote by the man, not because I have a problem with him, but because some people now believe that the cherry on top of any article they write about the Arab world must be a quote by Gibran. Personally I hold Fisk accountable, his book Pity the Nation is still one my favourites but it has made Gibran horribly cliched and virtually unreadable. In fact, I would say that the man is probably more popular amongst nostalgic expatriates and foreigners than amongst people in the Arab world. I'm not sure of this so if anybody who knows any better would care to comment I'd be grateful. .

" "It is critical that the international community come together to assist the Lebanese people in their hour of need," Bush said on the eve of a visit to the Middle East."

Apparently when Israel was bombing Lebanon "back to the Stone Age" in 2006, the Lebanese people did not matter as much but now they do. It is not so much what this man says which annoys me, it is that some Arabs parrot the same logic (or lack thereof) with a conviction that is shameful.

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"Hizbullah and Iran won the battle of Beirut," Jumblatt told the Guardian in his besieged Beirut home. "The Iranians chose the moment America is weak in the Middle East. The balance of power has completely changed in Lebanon and now we wait to see what new rules Hizbullah, Syria and Iran will lay down."

I don't think there is anything more I can say about this. Frankly I think the game is over in Lebanon and now if anything is going to happen it could start from Israel, which has been very quiet so far. .

No cause to celebrate

It is an old adage that the man fighting for what he believes in is more effective than the man fighting for pay. It held true for Carthage in the past, for the Saudi's and their mercenaries today and on a slightly different field of struggle, it holds true in the struggle for Palestine today. There are literally a million things one could think of doing other than walk in the hot summer sun (for England that is) and protest the Nakba whilst the orgiastic newspaper headlines all remind us that it is Israel's sixtieth birthday. I had volunteered to be a steward and after getting my fancy florescent vest and standing sheepishly outside Temple tube station for a few minutes, I quickly got into the flow of things. Bantering with people, handing out placards and giving directions, I quickly fell into the flow of things. After about 2 hours, the demonstration was ready to begin and we took off from under Waterloo bridge, winding our way past the houses of Parliament and on towards Trafalgar square. Once there, a massive Palestinian flag was draped over one of the huge lions, serving as a backdrop to the speakers. One thing I noticed and which was very prominent on that day was the level of surveillance that the demonstration and those in it were subject to. Police photographers were brazenly standing alongside the walking crowds, pointing at suspect individuals and photographing them. At the same time, security cameras swivelled around frantically as we passed by them, adding a surreal feel akin to Orwell's description of society in 1984. We were never made to forget that "the state" was all around us but, once the initial unease subsided, I quickly learned to ignore them.

Richard Burden MP

The theme of the day was to underline that this anniversary was no cause to celebrate, that it was a day to remember the ongoing (for it has never really ended) Nakba of the Palestinian people. Gaza is under seige, thousands of prisoners still languish in Israeli jails and the threat of further Israeli aggression against the people of the region grows stronger by the day. There was a long line up of people who were there to speak, amongst them the British MP George Galloway and Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. There was nothing new in what any had to say but then again there was nothing new in the situation of the Palestinian people so one can forgive them for sounding a bit repetitive.

Issues such as Iran, recent developments in Iran and the ongoing strangulation of Gaza were all touched upon, but as Galloway said, "this issue [Palestine] is at the heart of everything". Where somebody stands with relation to this conflict, in many ways, defines their very view of the world, what they represent and what they stand for. As long as there was "no justice in Palestine there would be no peace, if there is no peace then there is no peace between the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds", "Palestine is the key". Whilst I knew he was pandering to his largely Muslim constituency, I felt the man was right - Palestine is the key to everything. It was always, and continues today to be, the core issue of our generation. A symbol of the continued occupation of the Arab world, whether mentally or physically with boots on the ground, to abandon her was to abandon something central in us, to sell ourselves cheaply. To hold onto that thin cord of dignity and resistance, that was our obligation and the duty of our generation as it was for those before us.

Another speaker, Dr Mustafa Barghouti, pointed something else out, particularly poignant as we stood in the heart of capital, London. Here, as in other centres of "Western" power, the real battle was one over determining the essential, right and real narrative of what is happening, it is "a struggle for narrative". Yet it was Dr Azam Tamimi who summed it all up, for the Palestinian people were never just passive victims of this aggression. He pointed out how the Metro had emblazoned on its front page the headline "Happy Birthday to Us" a few days before. For Tamimi, whilst these people were shamelessly celebrating Israels continued existence they were justifying something else. They were justifying and colluding with the continued uprooting of "my people" and a shameless justification of continued colonialism. "The world is hypocritical", Tamimi said, and if they do not realise soon enough the injustice they perpetrate in occupied Palestine, then the response will be "Jihad, jihad, jihad until Palestine is free". I'm sure the ears of more than a few of those monitoring the demonstration pricked. Mine are still ringing with the effect.

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The liberation of Beirut

After so much talk, so much posturing and so much thuggery in the end it took only 24 hours for Beirut to be liberated. Let me come out clean from the start, those men who flushed out the Future movement and surrounded Jumblatt are clean men, strong men and, I feel, the most honourable men in the region. Within 24 hours the Nissan Pathfinders had scoured Beirut clean, clipped Jumblatt's wings and left the "Quartet" nations, Israel and most of the 'civilised' world outraged - again. Good, let them be livid. It was not outrageous for them to fund and arm these thugs they called moderates, certainly not outrageous for them to fuel sectarian violence throughout the Middle East to facilitate their occupation, but it is outrageous for them that their puppets should be so effectively stamped out. This doesn't mean it's all over though, far from it.

Now what will be interesting is to see what will happen with Saniora's government. Illegitimate and unable to retain any control over the country, it is now castrated. The ball is still in America's court now. .