Anti-Islam movie fuels anti-US sentiments across Muslim world: Analyst

Anti-American sentiment has erupted in the Muslim world after decades of US intervention, oppression and demonization and now the US acts dumbfounded by the blowback.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Omar Nashabe, editor of Al-Akhbar Newspaper from Beirut, to further discuss the issue. The video also offers the opinion of an additional guest: Khalid Rahman, director of Institute of Policy Studies from Islamabad.

What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all I’d like to get your initial reaction to what we are seeing right now taking place all over the Muslim world. It is Friday. Right after Friday prayers we are going to see even more protests.

The protest is mainly centered towards anti-American sentiment. It was just one person who has made this film. Why do you see such strong sentiments against the US as a whole being expressed here by the Muslim world?

Nashabe: I just want to say that this is not just an anti-Islam film. It wouldn’t have been a problem if it was just a film that poses a criticism for Islam. I mean, this is a religion that is open for discussion and open for exchange.

This is a film that is insulting, that presents insults that are not justified in any way, that are a direct insult on the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who is considered holy to a huge number of human beings.

When you insult the Prophet Muhammad in such a way, you actually provide an opportunity and this is what happened, an opportunity – because the movie was produced in Los Angeles in the United States – it created an opportunity for the Arab and Muslim masses to express their anti-American sentiments.

This is a demonstration. I mean this is not just the film that actually produced this reaction. The film was actually a drop that spilled the glass. This is just the spark, the film was the spark but apparently it is very clear, no one can deny this, there is an anti-American sentiment spread all around the Arab and Muslim world.

What is the reason for this anti-American sentiment is the main question that must be raised here and I think there is a political dimension and there is also a socioeconomic dimension and I think they are very much related.

Let’s get into the political dimension. Well, this shows that the policies of the United States in this part of the world and towards Muslims, especially since George Bush declared the war on terror, the war on terror targeted Muslims and targeted Islam as a religion and Muslims as people who follow this religion.

That is what has been portrayed in the media. Although the Americans did not say it formally I mean there were some slips here and there from some American politicians especially by Mr. Bush himself in some videos that can be seen on You Tube how he actually portrayed Muslims – That was a direct offence and well, that triggered a reaction and a perception on the part of the Arab and Muslim masses, understanding that the United States is acting against Muslims and against Islam. That is one part of the issue.

The other part of the issue is the fact that there are central issues and central concerns on the part of the Arab and Muslim masses that were not addressed at all. For example, the continuous Israeli aggressions of Palestinians, of Arabs, of taking over lands, the large number of prisoners held by Israel, the torture, the destruction of Gaza, the continuous bombing and the continuous support of the United States for Israel.

Press TV: You touched upon how the responsibility of this anti-American sentiment that we’re witnessing on the streets of the Muslim world right now lies solely in the hands of America itself, its socio-economic policies as well as its political ones.

But listening to Hilary Clinton, listening to Barak Obama, they seem to, well, sort of feel like it was out of their hands, it was out of their control; the US government has tried to distance itself from this movie while not altogether coming out and condemning it the way the Muslim world wants them to.

Do you think that this is a whole part of this concerted effort to show Islam as an external enemy or do you think the US government is an innocent bystander here?

Nashabe: I think that the reaction of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama in the past two days are, let me put it this way, they are ridiculous. There is a State Department in the United States, they have intelligence, they have advisors all over the world; it’s ridiculous that they couldn’t expect this or it’s ridiculous that they have sources of information that are inadequate about how people feel about the United States in this part of the world.

I think this shows a serious deficiency if we were to take the words of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton seriously.

That leaves the alternative, as you just pointed, that this was made on purpose. Well, we don’t have sufficient evidence to actually point out to that. However, on the issue of freedom of expression, I just want to point out a law… I was in Germany and in Germany it is prohibited by law to show insignia of Nazi Germany; it is prohibited by law to sell the book of Hitler, Mein Kampf, he wrote this book in prison and that book is prohibited in Europe in by law.

Where is the freedom of expression? Why is it prohibited in Europe? It is prohibited in Europe because this book is considered to fuel hatred – hatred towards the Jews, hatred towards black people, you know, it fuels sentiments that are racist and that talk about supremacy of the German people. This is prohibited by law.

So therefore Western governments and democracies have also a consideration that all elements or all media that fuels and creates a kind of hate and could lead to hate crimes and could lead to violence, should be prohibited.

I think this movie falls into this category and the American government and the American law makers should take that into consideration. Or they should take everything that creates hatred and fuels this public sentiment and creates more violence; they should consider all these materials and all these films illegal.

Now, that doesn’t mean that the reaction in Libya for example by killing the Ambassador and the diplomats and burning down the Embassy is a proper reaction. But this reaction cannot be controlled unless the US government and the Western community takes serious measures to show the Muslim masses that they refuse, practically refuse, not just in words.

For example. Alternatives could be, and I’m more action-oriented so I’m saying may be they could produce another movie that shows the reality of Islam, maybe they could deny publicly…

Press TV: Tell us a bit more about what kind of a concerted reaction do you expect from the people other than this protest, let’s look at the governments… There have been words of condemnations by parliaments and governments across the Muslim world, but do you think like when we saw when it came to the part of Danish caricatures of the prophet we saw Muslim governments block off and ban Danish products, cut of imports of Danish products – Do you see such a concerted being taken up by Muslim governments across the world?

Nashabe: Yes. Yes, well these reactions are short term. I’m thinking about long term reaction, I’m thinking about really addressing these issues on a long tem basis not just on a short term basis like taking policies of boycott and making immediate moves right now. These immediate moves will actually also have to be diplomatic and also legal. But in the long run I think it’s more educational.

And it’s more like, as Muslims this is the job of the Islamic nations in the different meetings that they have, to decide what way to react to these kinds of desecrations to Islam, these kinds of insults to the Prophet Muhammad and to holy figures in the Arab world. Even Christian figures… There must be a kind of concerted effort a collective effort that should come out in the media because this is a media assault so therefore there should be a media reaction.

I haven’t seen Arab or Muslim TV Stations, well, now Press TV is doing something, but I think there should be more cooperation between different media like Press TV and Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya and other news channels in Pakistan – I’m not really familiar with all the media – other Muslim countries in India in Indonesia. Even inside America there are some Muslim groups, there should be a collective media effort to counter this movie that is so offensive and insulting to so many people.

Press TV: You touched on the issue of freedom of speech. Do you think this latest blowback in the Muslim world is going to re-open that debate of where does freedom of speech; the right to freedom of speech and expression and where does hatred begin?

Nashabe: Yes this is very important and I think the Americans have a lot of experience on that because they had a lot of internal issues, internal racial tension and they have studied very well the concept of hate crimes and violence that comes out of this kind of fueling such sentiments.

So I believe they are capable of doing that on an international level as they did it on internal level. They were not very successful sometimes, but I think they can try again on the international level. Perhaps that could bring out some positive results.

The reaction now and the news this morning is that the American authorities are providing security and protection as you just mentioned before we started this program in the news, that they are providing protection for the producer of this movie. This is not a very positive move forward.

I am not saying that this person should be killed or assaulted, but I am saying that the news that the American government and the US police in California are providing, protection for the producer of this movie, will create more anger on the streets and will show that the American government is not responding to the expressions that are coming out on the Arab and Muslim streets now, the expressions of anger because there is an offence. I mean, people are offended, they are hurt.

This movie hurt the masses and the masses are reacting and this is a very spontaneous reaction that should be dealt with in a mature way and I hope that the international community will have the maturity to deal with this in a proper way.