Bashing the West

There are some Muslims who like to engage in what can only be described as "Muslim-bashing." But they pretend to carry the mantle of enlightenment. They would like you to believe that they are the enlightened and progressive ones, and those that disagree with them are "regressive," "ignorant," and "opportunistic." They lay the blame for the Danish cartoon controversy squarely on the shoulders of Muslims. They decry the "opportunistic" Muslims who are interested only in "West-bashing." These Muslims believe that since they have a Muslim parent, have had a Muslim upbringing, and have read a few books on Islam, they have the immunity from being called out on their Islamophobia.

I'll try to educate these people on why the Muslim reaction to China cracking down the Uighurs was relatively muted. Until the 1980's, China used to be a third world country; it presented itself as the leader of the Third World. There used to a thing called "Third World solidarity." Ordinary people living in developing countries across the world used to feel a sense of connectedness to others who had also historically been colonized and exploited by the industrialized world. China is no longer a developing country; it is a rising power. But the "Third World solidarity" still exists in some quarters. People in the third world think that "if China can make it, so we all can."

China is a beacon of hope for the developing world. Since many Muslim countries fall under the broad category of "third world," many Muslims are reluctant to criticize China. For the same reason, many Muslims are reluctant to criticize India for the crimes that she has committed (and continues to commit) against Muslims in Kashmir. India was also a third world country once. It was a member of the Non-Aligned Movement. Today, we are seeing both China and India progress rapidly and become more integrated into the world community. Nobody wants to criticize their role model(s).

Also, China is seen as a potential counter-weight to the United States. This might be hard for Westerners and the self-hating Muslims to understand. Since the end of the Cold War, we've been living in a unipolar world. The United States has been the sole superpower for about 20 years. There is no balance of power today like there was when the Soviet Union was around. Although Russia is no longer a superpower, it is also seen as a potential counter-weight to the US. Russia has a seat on the UN Security Council; thus, it wields enormous influence. As a result, there is a reluctance of the part of many Muslims to criticize Russia for the crimes that she has committed (and continues) to commit against Muslims in Chechnya.

Furthermore, the West has a colonial history. Of course, Denmark does not. So one might ask, "Why should Denmark have to pay a price for British and French colonialism?" And this is a fair point. But unfortunately, Denmark is seen as part of "the West," and the crimes of colonial Britain and colonial France are bound to be transferred to Denmark in the eyes of the developing world. I believe this to be unfair, but it's a reality. China and Russia have also done their fair share of colonizing (both historically and presently). Russia continues to occupy Dagestan and Chechnya, two Muslim-majority areas. China continues to occupy Xinjiang (which is a Muslim-majority area), and Tibet (which is a Buddhist-majority area). India continues to occupy Kashmir, a Muslim-majority area.

But this colonialism cannot be compared to Western colonialism. Russia, China, and India are occupying areas that have historically been within their sphere of influence. Even when the Soviet Union was still around, it only occupied areas around Russia-proper (whether in Eastern Europe or Central Asia). Russia did not cross the ocean to occupy territory on which it had no prior influence, and neither did China nor India. The British, the French, the Italians, and the Dutch sailed to the other side of the globe and occupied parts of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Before the self-hating Muslims whine about "West-bashing," they must read up on their history and try to understand the geopolitical reasons for this "West-bashing."