Along with the rest of the world, there has been in New Zealand much discussion about the nature of our (the West's) relationship with the Moslem world, its countries, people, culture and religion. This follows of course the publication of some "cartoons" in the western press, including two papers here, denigrating Mohammed. One for instance, shows him with a bomb under his turban. I haven't actually seen the cartoons. Linda discussed the issue with a moslem leader and another commentator, and I'm sorry, I can't recall now who they were. Sending an e-mail to Linda is not so easy, one doesn't have much time to compose one's thoughts or refine one's message if it is to be considered for using during the days' programme. However Linda was kind enough to read it out in its entirety. I should mention here that Linda will shortly be resigning her position as presenter of Nine-to-Noon. I was sorry to hear this, generally she has been an excellent, knowledgeable presenter, a skillful and incisive interviewer, and she comes over as someone with a wide range of interests who is keen to share the results of her enquiries and interviews with the listening public for their edification, interest and amusement.
Linda Clark,
Nine to Noon
Radio NZ
8th February, 2006, 8.45 am.
Dear Linda,
Subject - The Mohammed cartoons
I think the debate is somewhat missing the point. Surely this is a cultural clash related to feelings of subjugation, inequality and generations of grievance? You yourself have interviewed Robert Fisk about the appalling circumstances of so much of the Moslem world, and the real, and justified anger, of so many in regard to the West's duplicity, arrogance and bloody violence in dealing with the Moslem world for generations; for instance, half a million Moslem children died during the sanctions on Iraq. The unsolved Palestinian issue is the continuing flaring embers of a fire that will not be extinguished until this particular issue is solved. There are well over a billion Moslems in the world, and only a small number of those are those are extremists. We have, for instance, not seen any embassy burning in New Zealand. These cartoons are merely the petrol on the fire, and by the Dominion Post's own admission, the publication of these cartoons was designed to provoke. So what do we expect? It is mischievous and naive to deliberately do this when the world is becoming a more dangerous place, and where Christian fundamentalism, such as Bush's, is also part of the problem, his talk of a "crusade" was crass and stupid. What we need more than anything is statesmanship and understanding, a quality sorely lacking in all the present world's leaders, press and media. And your statement Linda, that none of the editors who published this material were willing to talk about the matter is revealing, I think they are cowards. So much for freedom of speech, what about freedom to question?
Yours faithfully,
Dr J K Monro etc
Nine to Noon
Radio NZ
8th February, 2006, 8.45 am.
Dear Linda,
Subject - The Mohammed cartoons
I think the debate is somewhat missing the point. Surely this is a cultural clash related to feelings of subjugation, inequality and generations of grievance? You yourself have interviewed Robert Fisk about the appalling circumstances of so much of the Moslem world, and the real, and justified anger, of so many in regard to the West's duplicity, arrogance and bloody violence in dealing with the Moslem world for generations; for instance, half a million Moslem children died during the sanctions on Iraq. The unsolved Palestinian issue is the continuing flaring embers of a fire that will not be extinguished until this particular issue is solved. There are well over a billion Moslems in the world, and only a small number of those are those are extremists. We have, for instance, not seen any embassy burning in New Zealand. These cartoons are merely the petrol on the fire, and by the Dominion Post's own admission, the publication of these cartoons was designed to provoke. So what do we expect? It is mischievous and naive to deliberately do this when the world is becoming a more dangerous place, and where Christian fundamentalism, such as Bush's, is also part of the problem, his talk of a "crusade" was crass and stupid. What we need more than anything is statesmanship and understanding, a quality sorely lacking in all the present world's leaders, press and media. And your statement Linda, that none of the editors who published this material were willing to talk about the matter is revealing, I think they are cowards. So much for freedom of speech, what about freedom to question?
Yours faithfully,
Dr J K Monro etc
As I said, the short time frame for such correspondence, means that one's letters aren't always quite up to what one would like, but I was pleased to hear it read out, so it can't have been too bad. The continued flames of the fire fuelled by these cartoons is worrying, but there are signs that moderate people on both sides are beginning to get their voices heard, and at the end of this process I have some hopes that goodwill on both sides will succeed in damping down this combustion, and in fact this process may actually seem some benefit arise from this episode. But surely this matter does prove that there is a real risk of more serious confrontation between societies in the world, if we continue to behave and speak badly to each other, and resentment and anger are continually fuelled by war, death, destruction and hypocrisy. My fear is that Mr Bush and his coterie will still be in power for another three and half years. In their last four years they have pursued a disatrously misplaced campaign against "terror", whilst being completely unable to see the West's own part in fuelling the fires of religious and cultural zealotry in the first instance. This inability to understand the causes of the problem, and merely trying to treat the symptoms, is as calamitous as a doctor trying to treat his patient's illness on the same basis. Please understand that I am not trying to paint the the extremes of the Muslim faith or culture in some rosy light, I think we all understand what these might be, but without understanding of the reasons for this hatred of the West by so many Muslims, no progress can be made.
I would recommend anyone who has any opinion about this matter at all, and that would appear to be most people, to read Robert Fisk's book, The Great War for Civilisation - the Conquest of the Middle East, all 1500 pages of it. I am now about three quarters of the way through and will post a review when I have completed it. It would be a particularly hardened reader who wouldn't find some sympathy for the Moslem world in the Middle East, North Africa and central Asia after reading this book. If you can't afford the book, or borrow it from the library, Robert Fisk has an internet site http://www.robert-fisk.com/, which I would urge you to visit, and his writings here will provide plenty of relevant information. The book though owes its particular power to the consistency of the premise, restated and revisited in so many parts of the Moslem world, that the West has behaved very badly to this world over many years, due to a combination of ignorance, hubris, arrogance, violence, selfishness and hypocrisy which has been so sustained, so consistent, so long-standing, that it is not surprising now that the Moslem world is reacting as it is. In fact, it seems to me that most Moslems, as opposed to the extremist elements, display singular characteristics of forebearance, stoicism, courage and faith, under the most supreme provocation and duress, that would put most western societies to shame.
Interview with Ronald Wright, Sunday Programme, Radio NZ 12/2/06
Chris Laidlaw presents an interesting and varied Sunday morning programme on Radio NZ National programme. I just happened to be listening when I was washing the breakfast dishes, when he started to talk about an imminent interview with Ronald Wright, the Anglo-Canadian archeologist, historian, and writer of the book A Short History of Progress. I dashed to the computer and started the audio streaming, and got the very first words of Ronald Wright, but missed recording Chris Laidlaw's introduction. Basically, Chris was talking about progress and what causes it, what does this mean? Is progress a good or bad thing. Is it just a linear phenomenon, just human social evolution with time, and is neither good nor bad? He introduces Ronald Wrights's theories, and his view of progress as being less sanguine, his knowledge of past civilisations and their collapse mirrored in our present civilisation, with major problems facing us in environmental damage, that greed is propelling us to a catastrophic collision with the Earth's ecosystem and support structures. He says the idea of progress has been around for centuries....... (this starts the recording)
Please click here to hear the full interview. I decided to post this interview here, as after a couple of week's availability it won't be able to be heard on the Radio NZ internet site. It may be copyright, and if this is the case, and the owner wishes me to remove the interview, I will do so. In the meantime I think that the subjects discussed are so important and immediate, that I have no qualms about providing this thought-provoking interview here. Please also think of buying or borrowing Ronald Wright's book. It covers some similar ground to the Jared Diamond's book, Collapse, but considerably more succinctly. I haven't reviewed the book on this site, but this interview will give you a flavour of the book.
I had not previously heard of Kevin Roberts, who turns out to be a real NZ high flyer. Kevin is CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi world division. I heard the interview today (1/3/06) driving from my locum in Waikanae back to Wellington. The interviewer was Jim Mora. I had only half an ear open initially, but as it went on I became increasingly disorientated. Then felt I like some watcher of the skies, when a new planet swims into his ken. Kevin was describing a new world to me, using an alien language which I didn't understand. 