Youth yearn to be free

In light of the continuing political uprising throughout the Middle East, American leaders are reported to be recalculating their approach to the Muslim world.

Politico's Ben Smith wrote this week that the Obama administration "clearly sees an opportunity," signaling "that they're hoping the changes in Tunisia and Egypt spread, and that they're going to align themselves far more clearly with the young, relatively secular masses" in countries like Iran, Algeria and Lebanon.

Is this a new moment for American relations with Muslim countries? Is freedom a religious or secular idea?

Should the U.S. "recalculate" our approach to the Muslim world? Might Muslims (indeed, people of ALL religious persuasions in the Arab world) actually want the same things as other people: hope for a better life; a bright future for their children; peace with justice? The events of recent weeks in North Africa and throughout the Middle East should display that we do, to be sure, need to examine more closely our stereotypical understanding of "the other."

When I first began writing for the "On Faith" panel, I was on sabbatical in the Palestinian West Bank. Many of the first questions to which I responded on the panel were about fears of "radical Islam," fears that I found inconsistent with my own experience among a majority Muslim population. Whether my acquaintances were Hamas or Fateh, observant or secular, Muslim or Christian, the concerns, hopes, and dreams were the same: an end to the Israeli occupation so that Palestinians could be free to determine their own destiny; reform in the limited Palestinian governing authorities so that there would be more transparency, more accountability, and more effective work toward a free and independent Palestinian state.

But just like those seeking reform anywhere, there were several factors that impeded the realization of those common hopes and dreams: a "status quo" situation that wouldn't budge; entrenched leadership that sought to maintain power; innovations that threatened that status quo and leadership; and infighting within the populace itself.

We have seen in Tunisia and Egypt a remarkable example of how people yearning to experience freedom have been able creatively to address these problems: especially young people finally refused to accept their plight, used innovative technologies and methods to shake the foundations of entrenched power and leadership, and formed coalitions with disparate parties to present a united front.

I witnessed in the Palestinian territories the beginnings of a creative "Third Intifada" that sought to confront the situation imposed by Israel and colluded with by the Palestinian Authority and U.S. interests; the entrenched leadership in Israel and the PA were resistant, but those seeking reform were not dissuaded; innovations such as demonstrations, boycotts, sanctions, divestment, critical thinking, educational and economic reform, and other nonviolent tactics were implemented - and resisted! Coalitions were formed that crossed over political, religious, and social lines.

We will continue to see these efforts spread throughout the region, for people do, in fact, yearn to have more say in their own destiny. Freedom is not just a religious issue, even though it is a central understanding of my own Christian tradition that "for freedom, Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1) and "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). That freedom is more in reference to being freed from the shackles of an entrenched tradition and external law through the experience of spirit and inward transformation. If anything, religion properly restricts certain "freedoms" in favor of the discipline of recognizing that we need boundaries within which we can truly be free. A river without banks is a swamp!

The freedoms we see being called for in Africa and the Middle East today transcend religious boundaries and speak to the very condition of all humanity. I fear that the U.S. will seek to maintain the status quo, support entrenched powers and interests, resist innovations of the common masses, and refuse to speak with our "enemies" to our own detriment and ultimate failure in seizing an opportunity truly to "spread democracy" in the region.

How ironic that what we attempted to do by power, might, and the loss of so many human lives is occurring through the sheer will - and primarily nonviolently - of people we too often have characterized as incapable of appreciating our "freedoms."

How odd that we only now seem to be realizing that those folks are actually human like us!

By Max Carter  |  February 15, 2011; 7:53 AM ET Save & Share:                 
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