November 12, 2006 – 11:27 am
The history of the Islamist debate in Turkey dates back to the late 19th Century during which period the Ottoman Empire was in clear decline while western Europe was advancing further into the realms of technological and industrial superiority. As observed in the Russian and Chinese cases of the same period, Turkish political and religious figures embarked on an almost desperate soul-searching assignment with the ambition of discovering the illusive mechanism by which the waning state and society of the empire could be recovered. This was not a premiering debate, however, but was one that had harassed the minds of Turkish statesmen and intellectuals since the 17th Century when Ottoman advances into Europe had all but ceased.
By the late 1800’s the debate had become one of bipolarisation: ‘Westernise’ vs. ‘Islamise.’
The Westernisers advocated the adoption of western technology and approaches to industry as well as the institutional structure of western states. The Islamists on the other hand shared the view that western technology and industrialisation was inevitably essential for the regeneration of the Ottoman state, but argued clearly against the restructuring of the institutional nature of the Turkish empire along western lines.
Islamic society, in the eyes of the Islamists, had already established its value and had catalysed some of the greatest empires and political ideologies witnessed over the preceding millennium and a half – why abandon it? The Islamists failed to win the debate despite their own convictions and the Republican theme which became engrained in the official ideology defining ‘civilized’ society in the Turkish statesman’s understanding (Toprak, 1999), won the moment. Read More »
August 9, 2006 – 12:01 pm
(This article was originally published in Jordan’s Living Well magazine)
Forgive me, Ernesto, for helping myself to this undeserved title of which I am grossly unworthy. I ask permission not only because I’m so unlike you in that I cannot believe in a single earthly dogma for the salvation of mankind so as to dedicate my whole existence to fight and die for it.
This noble, but often blinding, human trait is only part of the abyss that demarcates your fearless soul from mine. What really sets us apart here is that my inconsequential motorcycle expeditions will not leave these pages, whereas your celebrated treks are already grand history. And so are you. From t-shirts to boxer shorts, your portrait is a cult image more recognizable than most Hollywood celebrities. Alas, the only portrait you’re likely to find of this author is a Swiss police mug-shot for some serious traffic violations, but we won’t get into that. So Comandante, you still rock! Read More »
April 19, 2002 – 11:47 am
Today, 19 April 2002, is the 59th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by the Jews in Nazi occupied Poland. If I were to be a Jew today, I would be deeply ashamed of how history has repeated itself on the eve of this anniversary.
The irony is simply too incredible to ignore: A totally isolated and starving civilian population confined in a dreadful ghetto with endless curfews. An oppressed and wronged people with little hope of salvation. An expansionist enemy with an elected sadist at its helm who blames the subjugated victims for their miserable predicament. A desperate uprising that knows it has no chances of military victory, but a resistance movement that is nevertheless determined to die fighting. A long and suffocating military siege, followed by a relentless and indiscriminate onslaught. A bloodbath, heroic martyrdom, a crushed uprising, but the inevitable and unstoppable rebirth of a people. Read More »
October 14, 2001 – 11:50 am
The following excerpts from an award winning book contain rare insights into the mysterious world of the archetypal terrorist of all times and the kind of ideological spell that drives his followers. These selected quotes from the book reveal a spine-tingling picture of a wicked movement and its fanatically single-minded leader.
The book describes the chosen fortress of this exiled dissident as:
“… a rock six thousand feet high in a countryside of bare mountains, forgotten lakes, sheer cliffs and narrow passes. The greatest army could only reach it in single file and the most powerful catapults could not graze its walls. The Shahrud River, nicknamed the ‘mad river’, dominated the mountains, swelling up in springtime with the melted snow of the Elburz mountains and snatching up trees and stones as it sped down its course. Woe to him who dared approach it! Woe to the army who dared pitch camp on its banks.” Read More »
