Obama, Watch Your Words
By Bashir Goth
The biggest foreign policy mistake that Barack Obama could make during his honeymoon will be to follow the same political discourse of the Bush administration. Bush was plagued with language disaster. One of his first slips of the tongue was describing the war on terror as a crusade. This was a loaded word that inadvertently endorsed Samuel Huntington's ill-conceived clash of civilizations and invoked a legacy of horrors in the Muslim world.
Other fluid generalizations and arrogant expressions such as war on terror and Islamic terrorism, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive', 'We shall nuke them out', have only further intoxicated the political atmosphere between the Bush administration and the Muslim world.
Precision of political language is therefore as important as precision of smart bombs. Any misstep in any one of them will end up in dire consequence.
A fable says that Confucius was once asked what he would make his priority if he was appointed as an advisor to the Emperor. He replied that the most important thing for him would be to use the correct words. The reason he said was: "If we don't use the correct words, we live in public lie. If we live in public lies, the political system is a sham."
The political disasters committed by Bush's regime prove the truth of Confucius' wisdom. Language is not only the key to mutual human understanding but it is also the key to either healing old wounds or inflicting new ones. In order to avoid any pitfalls, Obama should therefore use a language that heals the deep wounds caused by Bush administration's vitriolic language. In the same way that he united the American voters behind him and gave them hope and faith, he should also use the same rhetoric that could spread hope across the world.
The Muslim world in particular will be closely watching the language of Obama's foreign policy and how he chooses his language will either repair or deepen the political fractures left behind by Bush's administration.
Newsweek/Washingtonpost/Postglobal
Friday, February 06, 2009
Obama, Watch Your Words
By Bashir Goth
The biggest foreign policy mistake that Barack Obama could make during his honeymoon will be to follow the same political discourse of the Bush administration. Bush was plagued with language disaster. One of his first slips of the tongue was describing the war on terror as a crusade. This was a loaded word that inadvertently endorsed Samuel Huntington's ill-conceived clash of civilizations and invoked a legacy of horrors in the Muslim world.
Other fluid generalizations and arrogant expressions such as war on terror and Islamic terrorism, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive', 'We shall nuke them out', have only further intoxicated the political atmosphere between the Bush administration and the Muslim world.
Precision of political language is therefore as important as precision of smart bombs. Any misstep in any one of them will end up in dire consequence.
A fable says that Confucius was once asked what he would make his priority if he was appointed as an advisor to the Emperor. He replied that the most important thing for him would be to use the correct words. The reason he said was: "If we don't use the correct words, we live in public lie. If we live in public lies, the political system is a sham."
The political disasters committed by Bush's regime prove the truth of Confucius' wisdom. Language is not only the key to mutual human understanding but it is also the key to either healing old wounds or inflicting new ones. In order to avoid any pitfalls, Obama should therefore use a language that heals the deep wounds caused by Bush administration's vitriolic language. In the same way that he united the American voters behind him and gave them hope and faith, he should also use the same rhetoric that could spread hope across the world.
The Muslim world in particular will be closely watching the language of Obama's foreign policy and how he chooses his language will either repair or deepen the political fractures left behind by Bush's administration.
Newsweek/Washingtonpost/Postglobal
By Bashir Goth
The biggest foreign policy mistake that Barack Obama could make during his honeymoon will be to follow the same political discourse of the Bush administration. Bush was plagued with language disaster. One of his first slips of the tongue was describing the war on terror as a crusade. This was a loaded word that inadvertently endorsed Samuel Huntington's ill-conceived clash of civilizations and invoked a legacy of horrors in the Muslim world.
Other fluid generalizations and arrogant expressions such as war on terror and Islamic terrorism, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive', 'We shall nuke them out', have only further intoxicated the political atmosphere between the Bush administration and the Muslim world.
Precision of political language is therefore as important as precision of smart bombs. Any misstep in any one of them will end up in dire consequence.
A fable says that Confucius was once asked what he would make his priority if he was appointed as an advisor to the Emperor. He replied that the most important thing for him would be to use the correct words. The reason he said was: "If we don't use the correct words, we live in public lie. If we live in public lies, the political system is a sham."
The political disasters committed by Bush's regime prove the truth of Confucius' wisdom. Language is not only the key to mutual human understanding but it is also the key to either healing old wounds or inflicting new ones. In order to avoid any pitfalls, Obama should therefore use a language that heals the deep wounds caused by Bush administration's vitriolic language. In the same way that he united the American voters behind him and gave them hope and faith, he should also use the same rhetoric that could spread hope across the world.
The Muslim world in particular will be closely watching the language of Obama's foreign policy and how he chooses his language will either repair or deepen the political fractures left behind by Bush's administration.
Newsweek/Washingtonpost/Postglobal
Editorial: May Obama’s hope message touch every village
By Bashir Goth
As Obama takes office, an unprecedented wind of hope and optimism sweeps around the world. In fact, Obama recognized this in his inaugural speech:”And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.”
From the strife stricken streets of Mogadishu to the gates of hell in Gaza; from the fear gripped alleyways of Baghdad to the terror dominated hills of Afghanistan; from the festering wounds of the Balkans to the internecine bloodletting in Africa’s darkest corners; from the hobbled people of Cuba to the recognition seeking people of Somaliland; from those groaning under the tyranny of Mugabe in Zimbabwe to the freedom loving people of the Caucuses countries, dreams are being woven around Obama’s Presidency.
It was benevolent of Obama to acknowledge this in his speech: “…To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
Realizing the devastating effect the world economic meltdown has on poor people in developing nations, Obama had a word of promise for them:“…To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
Given to the enormous responsibilities waiting for him both at home and overseas, Obama may neither find the time nor muster the support to realize his dreams for the world, but the fact that an American President talks with such compassion and empathy to the world after eight years of arrogance and disaster is itself a moment to cherish.
Awdalnews
By Bashir Goth
As Obama takes office, an unprecedented wind of hope and optimism sweeps around the world. In fact, Obama recognized this in his inaugural speech:”And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.”
From the strife stricken streets of Mogadishu to the gates of hell in Gaza; from the fear gripped alleyways of Baghdad to the terror dominated hills of Afghanistan; from the festering wounds of the Balkans to the internecine bloodletting in Africa’s darkest corners; from the hobbled people of Cuba to the recognition seeking people of Somaliland; from those groaning under the tyranny of Mugabe in Zimbabwe to the freedom loving people of the Caucuses countries, dreams are being woven around Obama’s Presidency.
It was benevolent of Obama to acknowledge this in his speech: “…To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
Realizing the devastating effect the world economic meltdown has on poor people in developing nations, Obama had a word of promise for them:“…To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
Given to the enormous responsibilities waiting for him both at home and overseas, Obama may neither find the time nor muster the support to realize his dreams for the world, but the fact that an American President talks with such compassion and empathy to the world after eight years of arrogance and disaster is itself a moment to cherish.
Awdalnews
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Mumbai attacks call for a collective Muslim outrage
By Bashir Goth
As I watched terrorists attacking Mumbai, India’s business capital, and playing havoc with the city’s famous landmarks, on November 26, I immediately remembered Hargeisa, capital of my country Somaliland, where almost a month before suicide bombers caused chaos by driving SUVs laden with explosives to the presidential palace, UNDP headquarters and the office of the Ethiopian Political Representative, killing scores of people and injuring many others. Just like India dubbed November 26 as their 9/11, my people in Somaliland have also dubbed their tragedy on 29/11 as Somaliland’s 9/11.
My first reaction to both tragedies was outrage. It is impossible to stay indifferent before such wanton killing of hundreds of innocent lives and destroying a country’s symbols of history and civilization. The terrorists’ choice of targets also says a lot about the venomous hate and the blind hostility that they have for human innovation, beauty and progress. Targeting Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel and the Trident-Oberoi was to hit India where it hurts most, the country’s sense of pride, just like their comrades did when they attacked New York’s Twin Towers.
Targeting western tourists, religious centers and public transport is also their way of maximizing the pain and delivering fear onto every world citizen’s doorstep. The reaction to this plague until now has been feeble and scattered on the world stage and almost indifferent at best and shameless schadenfreude at the worst in the main Muslim street.
The latest attacks in Mumbai should signal the end of world silence and inaction. It should stir a sense of outrage and anger in every peace loving human being. Any attempt to search for plausible justifications and motives just flies in one’s face when one finds that India is home to 150 million Muslims, representing the second-largest Muslim population in the world, after Indonesia's 200 million Muslims and larger than the entire population of Arab Muslims, which numbers around 140 million. So what kind of Muslim cause do these people claim to fight for when they endanger the lives of 150 million fellow Muslims and put them on the defensive to clear their name and that of their religion from the mess they have created.
READ MORE Awdalnews, onlineopinion
By Bashir Goth
As I watched terrorists attacking Mumbai, India’s business capital, and playing havoc with the city’s famous landmarks, on November 26, I immediately remembered Hargeisa, capital of my country Somaliland, where almost a month before suicide bombers caused chaos by driving SUVs laden with explosives to the presidential palace, UNDP headquarters and the office of the Ethiopian Political Representative, killing scores of people and injuring many others. Just like India dubbed November 26 as their 9/11, my people in Somaliland have also dubbed their tragedy on 29/11 as Somaliland’s 9/11.
My first reaction to both tragedies was outrage. It is impossible to stay indifferent before such wanton killing of hundreds of innocent lives and destroying a country’s symbols of history and civilization. The terrorists’ choice of targets also says a lot about the venomous hate and the blind hostility that they have for human innovation, beauty and progress. Targeting Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel and the Trident-Oberoi was to hit India where it hurts most, the country’s sense of pride, just like their comrades did when they attacked New York’s Twin Towers.
Targeting western tourists, religious centers and public transport is also their way of maximizing the pain and delivering fear onto every world citizen’s doorstep. The reaction to this plague until now has been feeble and scattered on the world stage and almost indifferent at best and shameless schadenfreude at the worst in the main Muslim street.
The latest attacks in Mumbai should signal the end of world silence and inaction. It should stir a sense of outrage and anger in every peace loving human being. Any attempt to search for plausible justifications and motives just flies in one’s face when one finds that India is home to 150 million Muslims, representing the second-largest Muslim population in the world, after Indonesia's 200 million Muslims and larger than the entire population of Arab Muslims, which numbers around 140 million. So what kind of Muslim cause do these people claim to fight for when they endanger the lives of 150 million fellow Muslims and put them on the defensive to clear their name and that of their religion from the mess they have created.
READ MORE Awdalnews, onlineopinion
Friday, November 21, 2008
Dark Continent’s Colourful Fantasies After Obama
By Bashir Goth
Obama’s election as the 44th President of the United States has resounded throughout the African continent as it did in many other parts of the world.
It was a definitive moment in history, an incredible dream come true for millions of African Americans, a shattering of a psychological Bastille for white Americans and indeed a triumph for all humanity. It was also a day of recognition for tens of thousands of American biracial people like my son, an offspring of an African father and a white American mother.
Young people and families in different time zones around the world stayed awake all night as the election results started trickling from state to state. As my wife and I went to bed, we left our son glued to CNN and devotedly following up the results on his laptop, adorned with Obama’s campaign wear. Briefing me on the results when I woke up Wednesday morning in Abu Dhabi, still Tuesday night in America, I could see how fired up he was. This is when I realised that this was something the world had never seen the like of it in living memory.
In Africa this was equal to the 1960s when the wind of change for freedom was blowing over the continent and Africans were breaking the chains of colonialism. Obama’s victory was embraced throughout the world as a victory of character over colour as was dreamt by Martin Luther King, a victory of human equality over bigotry and a success story that could only be written in America.
After arriving at work, I received a call from my son telling me that Obama had won. Thinking about it I had to call him back immediately after I put down the phone in order to share the moment with him in the way it deserved and listen to his voice as he narrated the numbers and developments to me in heightened enthusiasm. Soon after I ended his call, I kept receiving messages from friends all over the world. An African Ambassador and a friend in Abu Dhabi couldn’t hold back his emotions and pride. “Africa is at the top of the world,” he told me.
READ MORE in Khaleej Times
By Bashir Goth
Obama’s election as the 44th President of the United States has resounded throughout the African continent as it did in many other parts of the world.
It was a definitive moment in history, an incredible dream come true for millions of African Americans, a shattering of a psychological Bastille for white Americans and indeed a triumph for all humanity. It was also a day of recognition for tens of thousands of American biracial people like my son, an offspring of an African father and a white American mother.
Young people and families in different time zones around the world stayed awake all night as the election results started trickling from state to state. As my wife and I went to bed, we left our son glued to CNN and devotedly following up the results on his laptop, adorned with Obama’s campaign wear. Briefing me on the results when I woke up Wednesday morning in Abu Dhabi, still Tuesday night in America, I could see how fired up he was. This is when I realised that this was something the world had never seen the like of it in living memory.
In Africa this was equal to the 1960s when the wind of change for freedom was blowing over the continent and Africans were breaking the chains of colonialism. Obama’s victory was embraced throughout the world as a victory of character over colour as was dreamt by Martin Luther King, a victory of human equality over bigotry and a success story that could only be written in America.
After arriving at work, I received a call from my son telling me that Obama had won. Thinking about it I had to call him back immediately after I put down the phone in order to share the moment with him in the way it deserved and listen to his voice as he narrated the numbers and developments to me in heightened enthusiasm. Soon after I ended his call, I kept receiving messages from friends all over the world. An African Ambassador and a friend in Abu Dhabi couldn’t hold back his emotions and pride. “Africa is at the top of the world,” he told me.
READ MORE in Khaleej Times
Friday, November 07, 2008
Obama Should Turn His Eyes Toward Cuba
By Bashir Goth
With the election of Barack Obama, America has set the record straight. The American people have said it loud and clear that they want a change of direction. They believed and supported Obamaʼs message of change. The American people have delivered and it is now Obamaʼs turn to deliver. He has to show that he can walk the walk; that he is not only a man of words but a man of action as well.
The first obvious task for Mr. Obama should be to heal the divisions and wounds created by the toxic campaign discourse; he should reach across the aisle and form a bipartisan cabinet.
No doubt a top priority will be to address the financial crisis at home and on the global level, but equally important is for Obama to send a strong message to the world that he is ready to mend Americaʼs tattered image and restore its leadership role. And there is no quicker way to improve Americaʼs image than bring a speedy end to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Another equally important step would be to redefine the erroneous concept of the War on Terror without compromising on the security of the American people and the world at large. Mr. Obama should show the world that America is great because of its values and its unwavering support for human freedom; the values and freedom that brought him, a biracial child of an African father and an American mother, to the countryʼs presidency.
READ MORENewsweek/WashingtonPost.com/Postglobal
By Bashir Goth
With the election of Barack Obama, America has set the record straight. The American people have said it loud and clear that they want a change of direction. They believed and supported Obamaʼs message of change. The American people have delivered and it is now Obamaʼs turn to deliver. He has to show that he can walk the walk; that he is not only a man of words but a man of action as well.
The first obvious task for Mr. Obama should be to heal the divisions and wounds created by the toxic campaign discourse; he should reach across the aisle and form a bipartisan cabinet.
No doubt a top priority will be to address the financial crisis at home and on the global level, but equally important is for Obama to send a strong message to the world that he is ready to mend Americaʼs tattered image and restore its leadership role. And there is no quicker way to improve Americaʼs image than bring a speedy end to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Another equally important step would be to redefine the erroneous concept of the War on Terror without compromising on the security of the American people and the world at large. Mr. Obama should show the world that America is great because of its values and its unwavering support for human freedom; the values and freedom that brought him, a biracial child of an African father and an American mother, to the countryʼs presidency.
READ MORENewsweek/WashingtonPost.com/Postglobal
Editorial: Bombs will not subdue the resolve of Africa’s Cinderella
By Bashir Goth
Eighteen long years and Somaliland has been the beacon of hope in a turbulent region. Eighteen years during which Somaliland has written a success story of peace, stability, democratization and building of government institutions. Eighteen years of looking into the abyss but skirting all terrorist threats with its wisdom and community cohesion. Eighteen years of sending a May Day call after May Day call to the international community for help and support that went mainly unheeded to the detriment of regional stability and global security.
While the world was focused on the mayhem and fratricide taking place in Mogadishu, Somaliland was slowly and silently piecing itself life together away from the international limelight. Immediately after the collapse of the central Somali government in January 1991, Somaliland, which bore the brunt of the Military regime’s brutality, had disassociated itself from the defunct union that it had created with Italian Somalia in July 1960. Since then Somaliland has through a process of homegrown and bottom-up reconciliation conferences managed to heal the wounds of the civil war and embarked on building bridges among its various clans.
In the first of these conferences held in Burao, Somaliland declared its sovereignty as a separate state and soon solidified this with a national referendum on 31 May 2001 supported by more than 90% of the local population. It was, however, at the inclusive and holistic conference of Borama February-May 1993, that Somaliland laid the unshakable foundation for its constitution on the basis of a unique amalgam of customary law and western democracy.
READ MORE Awdalnews,TheMediaLine.org,
By Bashir Goth
Eighteen long years and Somaliland has been the beacon of hope in a turbulent region. Eighteen years during which Somaliland has written a success story of peace, stability, democratization and building of government institutions. Eighteen years of looking into the abyss but skirting all terrorist threats with its wisdom and community cohesion. Eighteen years of sending a May Day call after May Day call to the international community for help and support that went mainly unheeded to the detriment of regional stability and global security.
While the world was focused on the mayhem and fratricide taking place in Mogadishu, Somaliland was slowly and silently piecing itself life together away from the international limelight. Immediately after the collapse of the central Somali government in January 1991, Somaliland, which bore the brunt of the Military regime’s brutality, had disassociated itself from the defunct union that it had created with Italian Somalia in July 1960. Since then Somaliland has through a process of homegrown and bottom-up reconciliation conferences managed to heal the wounds of the civil war and embarked on building bridges among its various clans.
In the first of these conferences held in Burao, Somaliland declared its sovereignty as a separate state and soon solidified this with a national referendum on 31 May 2001 supported by more than 90% of the local population. It was, however, at the inclusive and holistic conference of Borama February-May 1993, that Somaliland laid the unshakable foundation for its constitution on the basis of a unique amalgam of customary law and western democracy.
READ MORE Awdalnews,TheMediaLine.org,
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