Rebranding US supremacy
IT’S turning out to be a fiasco. No, much worse: it’s an injustice with tragic consequences for Muslim victims.
I’m referring of course to the executive order signed by America’s President Donald Trump, barring people from several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, from travelling to the US.
Dubbed the “Muslim Ban”, the decree led to several people being prevented from boarding flights to the US, despite possessing valid documents, including visas and green cards.
Reports from media agencies in the Middle East indicate that immigration officials at airports in Cairo, Dubai, Qatar and elsewhere have acted swiftly to prevent passengers from listed countries from flying to their American destinations.
Bizarrely, even naturalised US citizens who originate from the targeted countries have found themselves unable to return “home”. Some who landed at JFK International airport in the US found themselves singled out and detained.
The decree, which has the hallmarks of a dictator, was signed last Friday to enforce Trump’s campaign promises to ban Muslims.
The seven Muslim-majority countries are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Why these seven, and not others such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, is a question being debated across various media platforms, particularly in America.
However, it is misplaced to argue or suggest that Saudi Arabia ought to have been included instead of Iran. It cannot be an either/or choice of targets. Whether it’s Somalia or Pakistan, the fact is that the executive order is arbitrary, discriminatory and xenophobic in addition to being racist and Islamophobic.
Interestingly, the countries whose citizens are banned were selected during Barack Obama’s presidency. According to a report published in Mic by Sarah Harvard, Obama signed the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act as part of an omnibus spending bill.
The legislation restricted access, and foreigners who would normally be deemed eligible for a visa waiver were denied if they had visited Iran, Syria, Sudan or Iraq, or held dual citizenship from one of those countries.
“So, in a nutshell, Obama restricted visa waivers for those seven Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen – and now, Trump is looking to bar immigration and visitors from the same list of countries.”
What this reveals is that the roots of Islamophobia in the US predate Donald Trump. Though the 45th American president has outraged Muslims with his bigotry now being enforced through the stroke of his pen, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the climate of hate against Islam prevalent across the country, and by extension, in Europe.
Who can forget the “shock and awe” of George W Bush? Or then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s “calmly asserting” that US policy objectives were worth the sacrifice of half a million Iraqi children? Black holes? Renditions? Torture and abominable sexual abuse? Guantanamo? Invasion and occupation of Muslim lands? What we are confronted with today is a rebranding by Trump of a supremacist ideology which unsurprisingly is applauded by Israel’s right wing regime.
The current executive order, as shocking as it is, is the latest manifestation of a series of instalments of hate and prejudice by previous administrations – both Republican and Democrat. Yes, it is an extreme act of Islamophobia and is a fulfilment of Trump’s pledge: “We’re going to have extreme vetting in all cases, and I mean extreme.”
What many had dismissed as buffoonery by an egotistical power-hungry capitalist is turning out to be a nightmare with dreaded consequences for the world. Will there be repercussions?
Indeed there will be, if more than 130 million Muslims in the targeted countries are treated as lepers!
Already, Iran has signalled that it will respond in kind by barring Americans. Within the US, civil rights activists and human rights lawyers have mobilised to challenge Trump’s decree – in the streets and in courts. Ultimately these brash acts will usher in fresh challenges to American hegemony as public opinion turns against policies built on a platform of injustice.
The hysteria generated by so-called “terror experts” has not been without consequence. Reports of attacks on mosques and Islamic institutions are worryingly on the increase.
Over the past 72 hours, two such horrendous attacks have occurred, in Texas and in Canada. Expectedly, the regular venom accompanying hate speech which includes terms such as “Islamic terrorism” and calls to wipe out its “evil ideology”, will manifest in crimes of hate.
Iqbal Jassat is an executive member of the Media
Review Network, Joburg.