Why I Chose Yemen vs America: A True Story [Archives:1999/37/Focus]
Part II
By: ALI MUHAMED
AL-HAMZI-EZZANI,
Yemen Times
The following contained in this article is by no means intended to undermine or mock European civilization, or European-American contributions to the world. The following is based on true facts and experiences, that I experienced or learned. Although some of these facts might be a bit blunt or direct, the purpose of the following article is to level out the unlevel playing field-one inferior, one superior and bring us all back to the reality of the equality among us and in practice. Anyone taking this article as a direct offense is only hurting themselves, through their ignorance and not my pen. They have only themselves to blame because I’ve done nothing wrong and don’t in the least bit feel apologetic.
I left off last week stating that I was going to disprove the colonialist mindset of my people through my knowledge and experiences. This week I plan on disproving this mindset through four unprincipled and unbased lies that have created this God-slave relationship. This is also the start of confidence-building among mainly Yemeni youth, not forgetting our elders of course, called the new era of the unapologetic Yemeni. Let’s commence!
First, many Yemenis see America and the western world as God! Below is a list of achievements and characteristics they feel that this “so called” God has achieved:
1) They only true democracy in the world.
2) The best-looking physical features.
3) An honorable civilization, while we are an uncivilized people.
4) A history of justice and equality.
To the dismay of the worshiper and the “so called” God, I am about to prove all of the above wrong!
Incorrectly, America is called the only true democracy in the world, but its really a fasad. Democracy comes from the Greek word Demoscates, which means people rule. This is not the case in the United States. Let’s take for instance the office of the president. This above all positions should be selected in the most democratic fashion.
To the contrary, it is not the people who decide the office of the presidency, its the electoral college that does. A matter of fact there have been a few cases in history where the candidate won the popular vote of the people, but lost the race and wasn’t elected to President because they didn’t win the electoral college. In fact, the cartoon character Mickey Mouse won the popular vote in the last election.
The second reason why America is not a political democracy is because running a campaign is costly and the one who has the most funds from the lobbyist’s is the one who will win the campaign. So, who is the largest lobbyist group in the United States? AIPAC-The American Israeli Political Action Committee. It is well-known that anyone taking an anti-Israeli stance will not be elected. Surprisingly, every Arab elected to office supports the illegal stated of Israel.
Bearing all this in mind America, stop mocking our democracy because your lack of democracy isn’t our model and let’s face it, a lobbyist group is an intellectual phrase for a bribery organization.
The second characteristic of this “so-called” God that I am going to disprove is the one believed that western physical features are superior to Yemeni physical features. First, it is important to figure out that while some Yemenis do everything in their might to look like westerners or Europeans, they are doing the same. In the west, men and women pay substantial amounts of money to tanning salons and hair parlors to look like us. That’s right, they pay lots of money to get tans that you have naturally and get perms which make their hair curly like yours. They go as far as willing to be diseased with skin cancer to look like you. Is this what civilized people do?
This brings me to my next point, that America and the west are civilized and we aren’t. By Allah’s blessing and through their good intentions-structurally and technologically, that is true. In a refusal to disrespect myself as a Muslim, Hashemite or Yemeni, I must admit that my people have taken many steps back in the area of civilization. However, lets not forget that our Muslim-Arab dynasty, that lasted over 800 years, was the most civilized and just dynasty ever. Even our “so called” enemies-the Jews, admit to this.
Civilization, at least nowadays, includes progress for the future, while always benefiting from the past. From the perspective of progression through our history, it is extremely vital to point out that without the Muslim-Arab contributions to civilization, there would be no America and society would not be as nearly advanced as it is today. Lets not forget, just about anything civilized in America has both an Islamic and Arabic root.
Lets first start with the English language and U.S. common law. Is it not true that the English language and alphabet originated from Arabic. If this is not the case than why does nearly 1,000 words of the English language derive directly from Arabic. Better yet, why did Ancient English literature need to be translated via first Arabic, then Farsi, Hindi and Castillian Spanish. All groups mentioned above admit to the borrowing of Arabic literature till this very day, but America and the West can’t.
It also has been brought to my attention through many lawyers, books and college classes that American laws are still being translated from their Arabic roots. This is ironic, because although Islamic law is perceived by many in America and the West as radical and extreme; America follows Islamic law too! For example it wasn’t until the Muslim-Arab expansion into Southern Europe that the European cavewoman received equal, but different rights to her European caveman. This later resulted in what is now common law in America, that is, that there be at least two witnesses to any marriage certificate or important legal document. The issue of whether this is Islamic law need not be discussed. I can go on and on about the Muslim and Yemeni contributions to the world in all areas of study. A matter of fact I will write a series of articles on this at a later time.
My final point that I want to make is, since I have been here people have always referred to America as the model of justice, peace and equality. On this point, I can honestly say that they are progressing now, more than any other time in history and is making a noble effort to move forward-to cover their nightmare of yesterday.
This confirms my last point and that is Yemen’s history is much greener than America’s. We haven’t oppressed nobody. However, we have a history of being oppressed by the Ethiopians, Turks, British, other Arabs and the West. Its about time Yemen takes a firm stance towards oppression, no matter who it is.
In terms of America’s history, America have you forgotten about the millions of Indigenous Indians you killed? What about the Africans and Iraqis? What about Hiroshima and Nagasaki? And yes, have you forgotten that there was a Berlin in America, except they were Japanese!
All in all, I feel much better in Yemen and I would like to give the Yemeni people a model to learn from and hopefully, Yemen can strengthen ties with them. This country is Libya. It is a model to the world. Believe it or not, there is not even one homeless person in Libya, even with the embargo. So, I would like to thank one of my role models-Colonel Momar Al-Khadafi for setting an international model of justice, peace and equality.
In closing, I would like to share a famous quote I made up a few years back as a political activist to the Yemeni people here and abroad and that is the following:
“Freedom does not lay in the hands of the oppressor, but rather in the mind, heart and soul of the oppressed and the best weapon you have in attaining your freedom is not just the sword you use in combat, which is also very important. But, more importantly, it is the sword Allah has given you between your ears.”
Anyone interested in working with me to make Yemen and the world a better place can contact me at: Al [email protected].
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