Muqaawama (Persian, Mughavamat): resistance, opposition, fight, struggle. From the Arabic tri-literal root Qama- to get up, stand up, stand erect, to rise, to ascend…
When I was in Iraq as a civilian advisor, this became the term most associated with the carnage and chaos that faced us as we attempted to rebuild the country after the invasion. Muqaawama (the second syllable is stressed as a long “a”) was the resistance, the loose coalition of former Ba’athists, Islamists, and paid mercenaries who were trying to make life hell for the “Americans”. Whatever our individual beliefs before the U.S. invasion (and there were plenty of us who thought the war was unjust adventurism), we were all targets once we stepped into Iraq. Many friends of mine, both American and Iraqi, will find the naming of this blog after the resistance highly offensive. These are people who have lost loved ones to the strife and can never forgive or forget what happened in the years following the U.S. invasion. I encourage them to read on. We must often re-imagine our adversaries and their discourse in order to understand and defeat them. Many times, their own language is the best weapon against them. It is no coincidence that members of the Iranian Green Movement shout “Allahu Akbar!” from the rooftops of Tehran each evening. It is not because these people are particularly religious. They are turning the discourse of the Islamic revolution against itself. This will be the mullahs’ ultimate undoing.
To a student of Arabic, it was interesting that the resistance in Iraq used this word to describe themselves. Qaum, from the same Arabic root as Muqaawama, became a term loaded with symbolic meaning for Arabs around the world long before the Iraqi invasion. It signifies the Arab nation, the swath of peoples from Morocco to the Gulf that has a special connection through Arabic as the revealed language of God. But most of the intellectuals and leaders who promoted this term in the heady days of Arab nationalism in the 60s and 70s were anything but religious. Many of them were Christian Arabs and almost all thought of themselves as secular nationalists making a break with the broken down Dream Caliphates of the past in favor of a more European, nation-state centered view of the universe. But here I was in 2003, facing a Muqaawama in Iraq that included a larger and larger contingent of Muslim fundamentalists- men who supposedly rejected nations as a divisive Western import and favored a broader Umma (community) of Muslims united by faith and transcending national borders. Why did they pick this term to describe themselves?
The reality of the modern Middle East and its multitude of distinct peoples is more complex than we can ever imagine. If my Iranian father knew that I was entitling my blog with an Arabic word, he would shake his head in disgust. Ever since Arab armies swallowed the much more sophisticated Sassanian empire in the 7th century, Iranians have looked down their noses at their “locust-eating” Arab neighbors. Xenophobia? Insecurity? A defense mechanism? Probably all of the above. Iranians, like all peoples, have their ugly side. Most of the tribes (yes, they are still tribes) that inhabit this part of the world are proud and ancient. That is why Islam will never unite them. They are older than this, more complex in their shimmering identities, and above all, more defiant. Many of them have coalesced and intermarried over centuries in ways that completely debunk the antagonisms we think of as sacrosanct. Islam as an ideology can keep them down for a while, as it has in Iran and Saudi Arabia. But it is only a matter of time before the Qaums, the authentic tribes in the Middle East- Iranians, Armenians, Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Druze, Azeris, Zaidis, Alevis- peoples who are united by more than just religion and language- rise up and assert themselves.
This blog is about the emergence of these peoples and their quest for freedom in the global age.
I’m happy to have found this site. I hope your insights reach many more Americans. I’d like to contribute to the civil discourse myself. I’m encouraged to believe I’m on the right track by the way your ideas harmonize with the other reading I’ve done. Still I find it hard to imagine what use I, an English-speaking Christian American, could be in the conversation about the future of Islam in the world. But as you say, it’s a global age. Let’s make it a golden age as well.
Thank you for publishing this bloc. While searching for insightful and well-informed articles on the Arab Muslim mentality, I found your site. So much hysteria surrounding the terrorist question and yet so few people proposing effective solutions. It’s an ideological and political war that can’t simply be won by force.
Keep on telling the stories from all sides with unbiased scrutiny. The first step is critical thinking sans emotions, for both sides.
About these three hikers: you certainly have their number. I worked with Shane Bauer in Yemen in 2005 at the Yemen Observer. He had in mind a similar hairbrained scheme back then: travel into forbidden territory, get big scoop, become king of the free lance journalists. Same result. His friends were arrested, he was arrested, and everyone had to run around on his behalf, pleading with the authorities, paying bribes, making diplomatic statements etc.. Meanwhile, in Sana’a, there were a million urgent stories demanding the attention of a diligent writer/reporter. Why can’t you first learn to be a good reporter, here? I asked him. No…he wasn’t interested. He wanted to be famous, wanted to take risks, etc…
The moral of the story: Western editors should not encourage yo-yos like Shane Bauer. Instead, they should develop local, indigenous talent. And use that as much as possible. The locals need the training, need the money and generally know when to take risks and when not to…
Thank Theo. Sounds like you have first hand experience with adrenaline-happy journalists. I came across more than my share in Iraq. I’m a big proponent of people doing what they want with their lives as long as they don’t hurt others. Unfortunately, here they are, they just don’t realize it.
I forgot the link to his attempt at speaking at the Tehran Holocaust Conference:
http://www.forward.com/articles/9653/
Great blog! I am an American filmmaker and journalist currently based in Israel/Palestine. I am making a documentary movie about a very courageous Palestinian, Khaled Mahameed, who opened the first Holocaust museum in the world especially designed for Arab viewers.
You can see excerpts and read more here:
http://heartoftheother.com/trailer
He challenges BOTH Arabs and Jews by his work.
Khaled almost made it to the Holocaust Conference in Dec, 2006, in Tehran, but was refused a visa at the last minute:
Please consider doing a post about our movie and about Khaled’s work. We are not funded by any large entities, and grass roots is the only way people will hear about us.
We have put you in our own blog roll.
Salaam-shalom,
Harvey
Harvey,
Thanks for your support and interest. Your work seems interesting and timely. The story about Mahameed is compelling and should be heard by more people. Although I must be honest with you, from where I sit, as much needs to be done to educate Jews and Israelis on the Palestinian horrors of the last 50 years, even though in numbers they do not approach the Holocaust. You cannot put a number on suffering, and the Palestinians have had their share and continue to. It is a shame that even the rest of the Arab world views their struggle with more than a hint of disinterest except when it serves their interest in criticizing Israel and deflecting attention from their own failures.
Good luck.