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Download this: Protecting civilians from terror

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, On The Road on Nov 12, 2007

Readers of this blog are a bloody demanding lot. If you’re not asking for new translations, you want more podcasts and the video of my latest speech. How’s a girl supposed to meet her deadlines, dammit?

But you know I love you (including the cruelest of my critics, for love drives you crazy) and I’m happy to oblige whenever I can.

Voila, the video of my presentation at a compelling conference entitled “Overcoming Extremism: Protecting Civilians from Terrorist Violence.” Its sponsor, the Center for Strategic and International Studies in DC, invited me to shed light on community responses to religious extremism.

Watch the video and you’ll also see a spirited exchange between me and Dr. Hany El-Banna, head of the international humanitarian group Islamic Relief. He’s a moderate Muslim whereas I’m a reform-minded one. And that makes a world of difference.

Which is also why I engage in a feisty volley of views with a Syrian scholar. He embraces the message of renewing ijtihad, Islam’s tradition of critical thinking. But he says that there’s already an Islamic “consensus” about important issues.

I tell him that until many more Muslims get over the fear of expressing themselves, any “consensus” is illusory because it’s determined by the privileged few who feel safe enough to speak. Call it the consensus of the confident.

The scholar shakes his head. I’m not surprised. He’s of the elite that naturally wants to protect its vice-grip on voice. Sadly, mullahs aren’t the only ones that reform-minded Muslims need to challenge.

Other conference highlights captured on video:

* Aryeh Neier, Executive Director of the Open Society Institute, addresses the failure of moral leadership on the part of civilians and not just political leaders, especially in the midst of genocide.

* Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, brilliantly explains why Americans have to keep human rights at the forefront of their agenda. It’s not just for their own integrity. It’s also because other countries take U.S. indifference as a license to absolve themselves of power abuses.

She tells the story of her recent meeting with Russian premier Vladmir Putin. When she questions his misuse of authority, Mr. Putin says only two words: Guantanamo Bay. The “export value” of a dirty conscience, she concludes, is devastating. That’s a slammin’ point.

On the lighter side, I met a young Sudanese blogger at the conference. Here’s his entry about our encounter. No, he’s not an agent of the Mossad.  I’ve double-checked with my Israeli masters.