So we’re all excited about the prospect of Obama elected as President and the immense symbolic value such possibilites offer. But substantially, what does Obama offer for us? Does he really stand for new politics or is he the latest revolusionary to be dragged into the status quo of American hegemony? I’ve often shrugged off entertaining that Obama represents any hopes of a new America, and Imam Zaid’s recent article has further cemented my position. He concludes,
The election of an African American, or a woman for that matter, without an associated “revolution of values†will do no more than possibly delay, but will not stave off, this country’s inevitable spiritual demise.
Following up on that, the “proggy” site alt.muslim has now raised the question, should Muslim Americans vote conservative in 2008? We have already witnessed the Malaysia Thinktank London veer \into this direction, but it is obvious that Britain and the federal government of America is hardly comparable in sheer size and influence.
I can see ISNA taking the conservative road as it is rather elitist and caters more to the rich well-educated immigrant community, or at least that is the buzz making its way around the streets of Devon. But ultimately it goes back to Imam Zaid’s quote above — the revolution of values is of primary concern regardless of partisanship.
This is exactly the same scenario that i foresee in Malaysia as mentioned in my previous post and Najwan’s 10 Years After Reformasi.
7 responses so far ↓
zahed // Feb 1, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Sorry, we didn’t raise the question. Suhail, the author of the article raised the question.
We thought our readers would be interested in seeing a counter-opinion to the usually left-leaning stuff we print. For example, the article by Hady Amr preceding Suhail’s (http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/e/2661/) where he outlines why Muslims should support the Democratic party (Shahed, in fact, is running for precinct chair for the Dems in Texas).
Either we’re schizo or open-minded. You choose.
kaki bangku // Feb 1, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Sorry bro zahed you’re right that I misrepresented it as being the opinion of alt.muslim as a whole
azel // Feb 2, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Ahh… Dr. Martin Luther King jr., Ron Paul, and Barrack Obama
azel // Feb 2, 2008 at 1:33 pm
ops…
kaki bangku // Feb 3, 2008 at 12:49 am
More from Imam Zaid:
In terms of candidates actually running, I think they all leave a lot to be desired, especially those who are described as being more viable such as Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Even Ron Paul or John McCain; they all leave something to be desired but we have to look deeply at the issue. A lot of people are attracted to Obama based on what he represents and the message he would send to the world. But the fact is that Obama is only viable as an African-American candidate, because he does not – and realizes he cannot – be an advocate for the poor and downtrodden masses of African-American people because he realized he will be just another Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson; therefore, unelectable because he’s advocating for the poor, or the downtrodden, or the increasingly disenfranchised masses of poor, urban African-Americans. This is an indictment of the general public here; that the candidate can only be viable as an African-American if he is seen as being acceptable to the white majority – essentially meaning that he champions issues of relevance to them, and neglects his own people. I think that’s a big problem as regards to Obama, in addition to the fact that with such large contributions of corporate interest, it will be difficult for him to return to his activist groups, even if he desired to.
In terms of someone like Ron Paul, a lot of Muslims see his advocacy, for example, for eliminating the income tax as being something that appeals to them. But, that doesn’t help the poor people. They don’t pay the income tax, anyway. When you take away the income tax and you introduce other liberal policies that don’t raise the tax in a significant way, then you just end up with a kind of crisis you have here in California, with massive budget deficits without any sources of new revenue. Some propose national gasoline taxes, or similar taxes. That will affect everyone, including the poor people who don’t pay the income tax now, but then they would. The wealthy people’s taxes will be substantially reduced, so it puts a disproportional burden on the poor. Without new sources of revenue through taxation or other forms of income generation for the state, you have budget crisis that leads to budget cuts. That [at the end] affects the poor again, such as [the current situation] in California, with the cutting of various welfare programs and cutting education, which primarily affects the poor, who have been benefiting from the grants that are made available.
We have to really form our own agenda and possibly look at fielding our own candidates. And, initially, that might just be to educate the general public about the issues. Dennis Kucinich does that through his candidacy, or Ralph Nader in the Green party, where there’s no chance they’re going to win in this winner-take-all political system. However, at least some issues are put out there for the public to discuss, and inshaAllah, with time the public will become keen on resolving some of those issues.
hope.action.change // Feb 4, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Some muslims say they should not vote for Obama, or even not vote at all, and their reasons are:
-He is not a Muslim
-He is denying he is Muslim
-trying to distance himself from Muslims
-Said “we have to be aware of Israel’s right to live in peace”
They say they should not just vote but volunteer in his campaign and their reasons are:
-For all minorities it is a huge step forward to
have an Africa American for a president, they kids can actually dream to get involved in politics
-He stood up against the war from the very beginning and against all pressure
-He is against racial profiling
-He is against Guantanamo
-He is against racial profiling
-He is against torture in American jails (water
bordering)
-He is against using fear (Islamophobia) to control
the people
-He called for an Islamic leaders summit to start
having better relations with them (French Newspaper)
-He is willing to meet with Iranian president
-He is against any discrimination, and he will be
more diligent to focus on this issue because of his
background
-He will empower their children, they will always be able to tell them that the president father is a Muslim, their sense of pride and identity as American Muslims will be boosted forever.
-Even if he is not Muslim his dad’s family is, he
will have much better understanding and sensitivity to their culture.
- Clinton refuses to answer any question or accept invitation or donations from Muslim Americans.
- The other options are worse, Ron Paul is the only Republican sensitive to the American Muslim community, but unfortunately he has no chance to be in the final elections so why waste chance to get someone who can help their kids future.
-McCain does not want to talk to American muslims, and wants to stay 100 years in Iraq, Romney suggested to throw the Muslims in the ocean in an interview on the radio in Iowa during the caucus
-All other candidates support Israel even more
Now, Obama is the only way they can avoid Hillary and McCain. The primaries is the only chance they have to help Obama win because if he did not, they will have to get stuck with Hillary or McCain and both will not do a single thing better than him for the community
In such condition a pride show of some Islamic
heritage will help in one thing, erase any hope to
have some one like him in white house.
So I say let’s not waste the dream-like chance to.
Change does not happen all at once, step by step is the only way.
kaki bangku // Feb 5, 2008 at 7:43 pm
True that Obama is the lesser of the other evils, but this is not merely an issue of who to vote in the elections. It’s about institutional reformation.
Obama is no different from McCain and Clinton in foreign policy. Just look at the recent catastrophe in Gaza — guess what Obama did?
He wrote a letter to the UN in support of Israel’s action!
Click here for proof
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