Home truths for Tony Blair

PRIME Minister Tony Blair has to come to terms with the reality that Britain today is a country where the second largest community is Muslim. He has to acknowledge and accept this as a fact.

Unfortunately, his is the only government in Europe that persistently refuses to accept this fact. The British leader seems to have no concern for the well being of his own people including British Muslims. A case in point is Blair’s conduct and behaviour vis-a-vis the war on Lebanon.

Blair is the only prime minister among the EU leaders who did not call for ceasefire in Lebanon. In fact, he faithfully toed the US line to oppose any UN move to stop the deadly Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Blair has to remember that he is the prime minister of Britain. I strongly believe and facts support me that Britain is not in the same position as the US. Unlike the US, UK has a large Muslim population and no British leader can afford to ignore this fact.

Dear readers, as you must have noted, I have been frequently writing in this column about the Arab and Muslim media criticising their shortcomings and policy errors. Most Arab and Muslim journalists often complain that America is completely one-sided and totally biased when it comes to the Middle East and Muslim world.

Unfortunately, Arab and Muslim journalists do not realise that the American politicians and media indeed have to be one-sided because of their political compulsions. Just as Arab and Muslim journalists have to live with the ground realities of their societies, American media and politicians too have to contend with their own reality. And the ground reality in the US is that you have to go with the prevalent political current of the moment.

Whether it is a mayor, senator, Congressman, governor and a presidential candidate, they have to take sides whatever be the truth. They are bound to be one-sided and support the state of Israel totally because of their voters and constituency. It does not matter if they are on the side of truth and justice. And no matter what their conscience says or demands, they cannot afford to call a spade a spade.

In the media too — whether it’s 24/7 television networks or the powerful newspapers — top journalists, news presenters and TV hosts, all of them tend to be totally biased and one-sided because of the powerful commercial interests that control the media.

So there is no point blaming them. They have to go where the wind blows, as they say, if they want to protect their professional and commercial interests.

In the UK, thankfully things are different. The majority of British people have a mind of their own. They would like to look at the two sides of a coin. So on the Middle East issue too, they are keen to see the reality as it is and judge it as it is. I would like to go with reality too regardless of the question who is the culprit, or who is wrong or right on a given issue. Take the issue of Lebanon, for instance.

When this war on Lebanon began, I said that Hezbollah was wrong in capturing Israeli soldiers. Israel was indeed provoked. But then the proportion of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, by way of punishment, was far greater than the original crime. More than a thousand people have died, millions have been displaced and a whole country has been destroyed. This is why everyone, be it the members of the government or opposition, agreed with the rest of the British people that the state of Israel had indeed gone out of line and out of proportion in attacking Lebanon.

Unfortunately, Blair is the only PM in the EU community, who refused to confront this reality and say the truth as it is. He did not demand ceasefire in Lebanon as other EU member states did. France, Germany and other European countries that have the Muslims in the second position all demanded a ‘cessation of hostilities’.

I hope Blair would learn his lessons from this episode. He doesn’t have to be a hypocrite. After all, Britain does not have a media monopoly as in the US. Except for the two newspapers, the Times and Sun, that belong to Rupert Murdoch and could be called biased in favour of Israel, the rest of the British newspapers are totally neutral. They have been strongly critical of Blair’s stance and his disastrous policy on Lebanon crisis.

They are talking about young boys who could end their lives in protest. I am not an expert on the subject, nor do I know any of such people. But a community leader has expressed concern that such incidents could be a reality in the reports published in the UK Press.

Blair, would do well to remember that this is the first time that a community leader is telling you bluntly. Why not examine the facts and support the truth? In my column, I have never criticised you as being biased or one-sided. It is not my style. Addressing Venezuela’s leader this week, when he recalled his envoy to Israel, I had argued that Chavez could have been much more helpful to the people of Lebanon by engaging in dialogue with Israel.

I say this to Blair, too. You could be much more helpful to the people of Lebanon and Middle East by playing a positive role. A genocide is taking place in Lebanon right now. By employing diplomatic efforts and using your channels with the US, you could do a great deal for peace in the Middle East than you care to.

I am sure Blair knows what I am talking about. After all, I am not the person who takes sides despite facing the reality. Readers of my column by now know that I have said the truth as it is even when dealing with the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries. I have never hesitated in exposing them and calling a spade a spade.

Right now, ordinary Arabs and Muslims are upset that their leaders sit idly and helplessly even as Lebanon burns and young children die.

I also address our own people in the West who may be thinking in terms of avenging the atrocities in Lebanon. I remind such misguided young men that you are lucky to be living in and being a citizen of a democratic country like Britain. It’s your home. In fact, it’s as much your home as it is that of the indigenous British people because the Muslims are now the second largest community in the country.

If you have a problem or grievance, you should approach your government and demand what is rightfully yours. You can persuade the political parties by showing them your influence during elections.

This is how you can influence the powers that be in a democratic society. By turning to extremism, you would be only giving an opportunity to your enemy. If you have a dispute with your enemy, don’t try to make them look good and yourself a culprit by resorting to extremist acts. Because no government and no civilised society anywhere in the world can tolerate this. This is unacceptable.

By Mohammed A. R. Galadari