'Growing Islamophobia Result of Polycrisis Created by West'
“We live in a time of multiple converging crises, which historians and sociologists are referring to as a poly-crisis. The global climate crisis along with numerous wars and geopolitical conflicts, many of which stem from US attempts to maintain global hegemony, have led to mass migrations. This trend is expected to continue with climate migrants alone reaching over 140 million by 2050, putting greater and greater stress on communities as they face shortages of food, water, and other resources. Faced with this poly-crisis of climate change, resource shortages, and political instability due to the failure of leaders to cope with the plethora of problems, people are inclined to blame others for their dilemma,” Yuram Abdullah Weiler told IQNA in an interview on Sunday.
He added, “Unprincipled and far-right-leaning politicians exploit the people’s fear and confusion to project blame onto Muslims and other minority groups. Hence, Islamophobia can be viewed as a consequence of today’s poly-crisis. As nation-states compete with each other for increasingly scarce resources, and as the global climate crisis shrinks our planet’s habitable zones thus further increasing the number of climate migrants, we can expect to see a corresponding increase in hateful acts against Muslims and other minorities in the still-relatively-well-off West."
Following is the full text of the interview:
IQNA: On Wednesday, a man burned the Holy Quran under police protection in front of the Stockholm Central Mosque in the Swedish capital Stockholm. Desecration of the Quran has once again cast light on the West’s double standards vis-à-vis Quran desecration and Islamic values that allows Islamophobia to prevail. What is behind this growing trend of Islamophobia?
Abdullah Weiler: We live in a time of multiple converging crises, which historians and sociologists are referring to as a poly-crisis. The global climate crisis along with numerous wars and geopolitical conflicts, many of which stem from US attempts to maintain global hegemony, have led to mass migrations. This trend is expected to continue with climate migrants alone reaching over 140 million by 2050, putting greater and greater stress on communities as they face shortages of food, water, and other resources. Faced with this poly-crisis of climate change, resource shortages, and political instability due to the failure of leaders to cope with the plethora of problems, people are inclined to blame others for their dilemma. They hunker down in a state of hyper-nationalism, militarizing their country’s borders and targeting migrants, foreigners, or anyone who does not fit their national mythological mold as the source of all social, economic and political woes. Unprincipled and far-right-leaning politicians exploit the people’s fear and confusion to project blame onto Muslims and other minority groups. Hence, Islamophobia can be viewed as a consequence of today’s poly-crisis. As nation-states compete with each other for increasingly scarce resources, and as the global climate crisis shrinks our planet’s habitable zones thus further increasing the number of climate migrants, we can expect to see a corresponding increase in hateful acts against Muslims and other minorities in the still-relatively-well-off West.
IQNA: As you know, recently a group of settlers stormed a village in the occupied West Bank, forcing their way into a local mosque and vandalizing it before ripping the pages of a copy of the Quran and throwing it into the street. Some observers believe that the policies adopted by the far-right Israeli cabinet in the past year have further emboldened the settlers to conduct such attacks. What is your take on this?
Abdullah Weiler: Certainly, the policies adopted by successive Israeli governments have emboldened the settlers in their attacks on Palestinians, but such behavior would not occur, or at least not to the extent that we are witnessing, without the tacit political backing of the United States. True, US president Biden has not offered an official invitation to Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, but this non-action on the part of Biden has been attributed to Netanyahu’s so-called judicial overhaul, and not because of the latter’s condoning and even encouraging settler violence against Palestinians. Likewise, some U.S. Democratic leaders have expressed constrained concern over Netanyahu’s inclusion of far-right-leaning Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in his cabinet, but Republicans continue to be in lock-step agreement with whatever actions Netanyahu takes. In fact, Republicans seem to be trying to outdo one another with their unmitigated support for the Israeli apartheid regime, as Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are doing, for example. With their 2024 election campaigns already in progress, US politicians will most likely be very hesitant to confront Netanyahu in any meaningful way. It would be no surprise to see the Republican-dominated US of Representatives breach protocol and invite Netanyahu for an address.
IQNA: What are the legal and human rights implications of this act of desecration, and how can they be addressed by the international community and the relevant organizations?
Abdullah Weiler: The United Nations and numerous other non-governmental organizations have condemned the Israeli regime for its deplorable human rights record and despicable treatment of its indigenous Palestinian population. The Israeli regime has violated international humanitarian law, specifically that which is derived from the Fourth Geneva and Hague Conventions, by occupying the West Bank, which is technically under Jordanian jurisdiction, since 1967, and annexing East Jerusalem / Al-Quds in 1980. Israel is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right of a person to life, liberty and security; freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; due process of law, and other basic human rights, which it consistently and unabashedly violates with regard to Palestinians, whether within the ever-expanding boundaries of the Zionist state or in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. While these issues have been and are being addressed by the international community through the UN and various NGOs, the US, with its unbridled historical support of the Israeli regime continues to be the principal obstacle in the path of ameliorating the oppressive conditions Palestinians are forced to endure.
IQNA: What are the best strategies and practices to prevent and counter such acts of desecration and hate crimes?
Abdullah Weiler: With the one nation, which could implement meaningful political and economic measures to put an end to these atrocities against Palestinians and their religious sanctities, at most mildly censuring Israel or blatantly supporting the nuclear-armed Zionist regime’s “right to defend itself” by unleashing military violence against peaceful protesters, what to do is indeed a difficult question. Judging by some parties' zealous opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, it would appear that economic measures are the most effective strategy. With some 138 nations in the world now recognizing the State of Palestine and the US in decline, economics will eventually shift to the side of the Palestinian cause. In the meantime, Muslims the world over must expose the atrocities being committed by the Israeli regime by any and all means of communication and exert peaceful “maximum pressure” on the leaders of Muslim-majority countries not to accede to the financial temptations offered by the Western powers to move towards any normalization of relations of their nations with this international outlier.
IQNA: Following the recent acts of desecration, condemnations poured in from across the world. Do you think issuing a statement and slamming the sacrilege is enough, or should the international community adopt a more serious stance?
Abdullah Weiler: My thoughts on this are in line with what has been stated above, namely, economic measures exerted by Muslim countries must go hand-in-hand with stern statements of condemnation. It is totally ineffective and counterproductive for Muslim leaders to issue statements condemning Israeli settler violence against Palestinians or desecration of their Islamic sanctities on one day, only to sign trade agreements or establish higher-level diplomatic relations with the law-breaking regime a few days or weeks later. Pressure by the international community, and in particular the Muslim Ummah, must be consistent and unyielding if the goal of liberating Palestine from the Israeli occupiers is to be achieved.
Yuram Abdullah Weiler is a former engineer educated in mathematics turned writer and political critic who has written over 130 articles on Islam, social justice, economics, and politics focusing mainly on the Middle East and US policies. His work has appeared on Palestine Chronicle, Salem-News, Shiite News, Countercurrents, Uruknet, Turkish Weekly, American Herald Tribune and Hezbollah. In addition, he has frequently appeared as a guest commentator on Press TV, Al Etejah, and Alalam. A dissenting voice from the “Belly of the Beast”, he currently lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico USA.
