GLOBESPOTTING

Obama plays on Muslim roots to great effect

Indrani Bagchi, 04 June 2009, 09:01 PM IST

The burden of expectation always accompanies Barack Obama. Today, it was no different when he addressed the Muslim world — under crushing hope that somehow his speech would make everything all right.

Obama’s speech Cairo University was a masterpiece in political oratory. Never has his Muslim roots been put to better use. And what better place to exploit it than in Egypt, home of pan-Arabism as well as home to al-Qaida ideologue, Ayman Zawahiri?

What was most significant about Obama’s speech was not what he said, but how he said it. America will not change its policies, the ground realities in the region and across the Islamic world will not vanish overnight, Israelis and Palestinians will not see the light suddenly. But the speech might just help in changing the mode of discussion in US-Islamic engagement.

For the first time, a US president leveraged US’ close relationship with Israel to publicly rap it on the knuckles on the settlement issue. This will have a big effect on the Arabs who generally believe that American presidents are dictated by the "Jewish lobby" in Washington. Obama has already raised the issue with Netanyahu so it wasn’t a surprise to Israelis, just as he has already rejected Netanyahu’s gambit of tying peace negotiations with Iran’s stopping its nuclear ambitions.

However, Obama emphasized the "bond" with Israel and in a deliberate snub to Iran and other Muslim Arabs who overtly or silently scoff at the holocaust. In fact, Obama’s most substantive diplomacy was with the Saudi King Abdullah, who has been asked to revive his peace plan. And tomorrow he travels to Buchenwald, one of the worst concentration camps in Germany to further emphasise that the horros of the holocaust cannot be trifled with.

His messages to the Muslim world were not new – get democracy, women’s rights, innovation, economic development. Most important, he took a completely different path than George W. Bush to tell Muslims around the world that it was in their interests to reject Islamic extremism.

"The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind," Obama told about 3,000 people in Cairo and the Muslim world at large in a major speech Thursday. "Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism -- it is an important part of promoting peace."

Pointing to the 3,000 killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Obama said al-Qaida "chose to ruthlessly murder these people ... and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale." Obama did not mince words that Muslims had to be partners in combating extremism, it was only said in a way that made it seem non-threatening to the Muslim world. Therein was the real success of the speech.

I thought one of the more significant practical steps was for the US to team up with the OIC to launch an anti-polio campaign in Islamic countries. Administering polio drops to children in Muslim countries (like Nigeria, Pakistan-Afghanistan, even UAE, where it has apparently reappeared) is deemed a problem because of a widespread belief that this is a western conspiracy against Muslims.

On Afghanistan, I think Obama's line that US would leave the country will only serve to strengthen fears that America only wants to "declare" victory and then scram. It will give Pakistan establishment the green signal they are looking for to continue pussyfooting with the Taliban and al-qaida – in anticipation for the day when they can get Afghanistan to themselves again. But in essence, even if Obama did not succeed in wiping out collective mistrust, he sounded so earnest.

Expectedly, the most strident response came from Osama bin Laden, sitting watching Obama on his LCD flat screen in the comfort of Pakistan’s Quetta. If his exhortations proved that he was still alive and well, and in touch with the world, it also proved that he was worried his message might get overtaken by the positive message of Barack Obama.

And here is the real message in fighting Islamic extremism. The “al-Qaida” extremist message is easily and quickly transmitted across the airwaves and the internet, reaching millions of vulnerable minds in different parts of the world. The “other” message, the message of a better future, positive re-engagement, and basically, the real teachings of the Koran, get buried. Today, Obama showed the power of the positive message. And that’s why Osama is unhappy.

The world needs the positive message from every leader of consequence, if we have to win the hearts and minds debate in Islamic extremism.