Haroon Moghul, a Ph.D. Candidate at Columbia University and Fellow at New America Foundation and Center on National Security at Fordham Law, sits down with Don Lemon of CNN to offer a more balanced view of the protests occurring in some Muslim nations since September 11th of this year, when Ambassador Stevens was killed in Libya.
Moghul explains that he believes in free speech, but also believes it is important to respect what others hold sacred. He also offers a deeper look into the root causes of the protests which have been portrayed in the media as violent and destructive:
“I think we have to be fair when we look at the protests and what’s happening. An overwhelming majority of Muslims—from the grassroots to the Muslim leaders, and the religious leaders and political leaders—have condemned the violence and condemned the protests, and even if you look at the people who are protesting, an even smaller percentage of them are protesting violently…
“I don’t think the protests are REALLY about the Prophet Muhammad, I think they have a lot more to do with local politics, with American foreign policy and with feelings of humiliation and being basically not treated with dignity, not treated as part of society, as being able to politically participate… So there are a lot of feelings of marginalization and alienation and I thnk this move is more of an excuse to come out to the streets and vent these feelings, and these kinds of gestures are pushed by extremist vioices and political leaders in order to push their own cause forward.”
Moghul also notes that there have been tens of thousands of people protesting against the killing of Ambassador Stevens and against the violence, making note that the media chooses to portray what people are used to seeing from Western media: violent Muslims, instead of this vast majority of people who are peaceful and very much against the violence that happened last week.
For more, visit CNN videos, and follow Haroon Moghul on Twitter @hsmoghul
About Joanna Schroeder
Well, Muslims should speak up if they don’t want to be bundled up with their extremist brothers. Those “Islam is religion of peace” phrases are remaining only phrases when there is no action and it is easy to stereotype.
That’s the whole point. Many, many, many people of Muslim faith ARE speaking up and against the violence, but our mainstream media isn’t spreading that information as fast as they are the negative. One image of a burning motorcycle grabs a lot more attention than that of a group of people peacefully marching against the violent groups that killed the Ambassador and his aides.
But it’s happening. It’s RIGHT in front of your eyes. Please look above at Mr. Moghul’s statement, right there on CNN. It’s there, and his words along with all the others – the millions of others – need to be spread so we can deepen our understanding of the millions and millions of people who make up the Muslim faith.
(something went wrong)… cont. And people like Haroon will be just token Muslims
cont. to be used by CNN and similar media for “balanced” reporting
There are lots of opponents of US foreign policy, but somehow only Muslims are calling for killing (and actually doing the killing) of Americans and “infidels”. Doesn’t ad up to “fair and balanced” view of Mr. Haroon
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I’m an Indonesian. Maybe you american know Indonesia as the country where your president Obama spent some times in his childhood. FYI, Indonesia is the country with the most Muslims population in the world. 90% of us are muslims. And you know what, the Islam fanatics who likes to condemns violences are the minority here. The majority of us are really laidback , cool, and tolerant. Lots of my co worker from United States and Europe always said to me that Indonesian people are really kind and friendly. And to give you information, women in my country is really have a freedom. You know what, WE HAD WOMAN PRESIDENT!!!! ( Megawati Soekarno Putri ) through open election, chose by all of Indonesian ( do United States of America, country of freedom and equality had woman president???? NOT!!!!!!) Not all muslims are women haters and beaters who keep women in kitchen like you always being told. My boss ( senior manager ) in my company ( Medco Energy, the 2nd biggest Indonesian Oil Company ) is a woman. And shes young, have 2 children, and beautiful. The CEO of Pertamina, the nations biggest oil company, is a woman.That tells you a lot. Women in my country is not 2nd citizens, although most of us are muslims.
That being said, me as a muslim cannot blame you american for thinking all of us are muslims. After all those terrorist attacks ( including 9/11) how can i blame innocent and ignorant people for thinking we are all evil? I think thats just natural for human to blamed others when they get hurt. Thats like how some women thinking all men are rapist , asshole, and liars. I cannot blame them for that. Instead i always tell myself to behave like a kind, nice, friendly, and tollerant muslims.