LEBANON: WESTERN PLOTS TO HUMILIATE & DIVIDE THE UMMAH

Western Plots to Humiliate and Divide the Muslim World
Dr Kim Howells

During my recent visit to Pakistan, I made sure, as I always do when I travel abroad, that I read the local newspapers, to discover the issues that concern people in that country. I was surprised to read, in a respectable daily newspaper, claims that the recent alleged plot to bring down a number of aeroplanes over the Atlantic was actually a fabrication. It has, according to this publication, been cooked up by the UK government and "Zionists" in order to discredit the UK Muslim community and divert attention from the Lebanon crisis.

I have often wondered how journalists could come up with such rubbish. The idea that the British government would engage in an elaborate conspiracy to deceive the world, inflicting hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage to our own travel and tourist industries and bringing airports to a chaotic halt, is pure fantasy. The idea that we would do it in an attempt to distract people from the terrible human tragedy in the Middle East is the worst kind of sick joke. Coverage of that tragedy continued, in any case, in front-page newspaper headlines and on television bulletins. And quite properly so.

But conspiracy headlines are not unique to Pakistan. The international media is littered with fantasies that portray the British government as being part of some "crusade" against the Islamic world. In several countries around the world, parts of the media have presented supposedly compelling evidence that the 2005 London bombings were a CIA-Mossad plot to strengthen British support for the war on terror.

This was a sickening echo of the nonsense peddled by unscrupulous journalists in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the USA, that claimed that it was the US Administration itself that perpetrated the atrocity. To this day, two minutes on the Internet are enough to find websites arguing that bombs not aeroplanes brought down the twin towers or that a number of the suicide bombers are still alive. Some sites even claim to have analysed the Bin-Ladin footage from videos aired on Al-Jazeera and to have determined that this wasn't Bin-Ladin, but a CIA actor. No doubt, these fantasists believe that Al-Jazeera is in on the act too, given that it was written off in its early days as a Zionist/CIA plot designed to confuse and divide the Arab world.

So why is the pull of the conspiracy theory so strong? In countries and cultures where governments and the media have regularly colluded to hide the truth from their citizens mistrust of authority is pervasive. Ordinary people tend to suspect everything that comes from "official channels". Dark plots hold much greater attractions. When there are no benchmarks for the truth, it is possible to believe anything.

Britain's aggressively independent news has helped minimise distrust of the media in the UK. No government in this country, of whatever party, can control what the media says or prints. That is why there is a vital role for impartial and independent investigative journalism, fully accountable to its audience and ready and willing to dig out the truth from layers of rumours, myths and misinformation. The media needs to challenge and to question what governments do on the basis of fact and with the intention of informing people, not on the basis of fiction with the intention to mislead.

I am optimistic that throughout the Middle East and South Asia the tide is now turning. People can choose between a plethora of different websites, radio stations, newspapers and satellite channels from which to get the news. Such choice can only be a good thing.

But this information revolution presents a whole new set of challenges. On the internet, for example, conscientious news services jostle for attention with those who place a far lower premium on fact. It falls to the consumer - to the individual reading the story - to judge its credibility for themselves. Sometimes that can be difficult. For example, I have seen certain commentators praising Al-Qa'idah for their "heroic" attacks on western targets while, nearly in the same breath, they decry those attacks as CIA or "Zionist" plots. Such illogical and inconsistent argument is laughable propaganda, not journalism.

But those who seek to deceive can be clever and the web of lies they weave can be fine and therefore more able to entrap us. Each of us has a responsibility to think carefully about what we are reading. To question it and not to accept it blindly.

We have to decide which sources can be trusted. The revolution in the pan-Arab media, with potential access to literally hundreds of news sources, is a tremendously important step in allowing such an informed choice.

People must embrace it and use it wisely. We have to question the rumours, challenge the theories and laugh at the conspiracy theorists when we deduce that they are not treating us as intelligent human beings.

If we examine for a moment the theory that the British government is engaged in a crusade against Muslims and the Muslim world, and hold against it three simple facts:

1. The UK has donated, over the past five years, £5bn of development aid to that same Muslim world;

2. The UK government has declared solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the creation of a viable, sovereign Palestinian state to be an absolute priority;

3. Two million Muslims live in Britain, enjoying the same rights and freedoms as everyone else in the country.

The conspiracy simply does not stand up, mainly because it is designed to mislead. Like all propaganda, it is based on the presumption of bad faith and calculated to feed prejudice. It stifles dialogue and suffocates understanding because everybody in a position of authority is held to be part of a bigger plot and to harbour hostile aims. It gives oxygen to the perverted views of those who peddle hatred and advocate, condone or carry out terrorist outrages against innocent civilians.

The simple fact that I am writing in this newspaper and that you are reading it, suggests that there is space for honest discussion. Being honest requires making tough choices. But if we can just trust each other enough to start talking about these difficult and controversial issues, then we increase the chances of finding effective solutions for the problems we face.

*Dr Kim Howells is FCO Minister for the Middle East

Pertinent Links:

1) Western Plots to Humiliate and Divide the Muslim World