Media and the Arab World

Historical Events• 9/11 destruction of twin towers and pentagon– 2974 died excluding the 19 hijackers

• 2004 Madrid train bombings– 10 explosions occurred at 4 commuter trains– Killing 191 - wounding 1,800

• Beslan School Hostage Crisis 2004– Group of armed terrorists demanding end to Second

Chechen War– 3 day siege– Death toll: 330 killed and 800 injured

• Mumbai attacks 2008– 3 days, 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks– Killing 173 and injuring 308

Discrimination

• The agents were reported to be saying, that they don’t like what they are doing and they think it is wrong, but that they are “following orders from Washington.”

• Some of them were apologetic. “I know not all Muslims are terrorists, but we have been asked to do that,” said one agent. “I don’t agree with what is happening to you and many others like you, yet I have to do it, because I have a job to do,” said the other.

• “Did you meet any terrorists?” As if terrorists are roaming the streets of the Far East or the Middle East with “terrorist” banners on their foreheads.

• Shahid Malik, Britain’s first Muslim Prime Minister

• Detained by Department of Homeland and Security, oct 2007

• Hand luggage analyzed for traces of explosive materials

• Last year detained for 1 hr in JFK airport

• He was returning from giving a speech on extremism and defeating terrorism

Movies

Religion• “O ye who believe! Fight those

of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty.” Qur’an Sura 9:123

• Jihad: “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty ; also : a personal struggle in devotion to Islam especially involving spiritual discipline 2: a crusade for a principle or belief” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Women

• Muslim women are not treated like real human beings. Islam forces women to use a veil to cover their faces since these should only be seen by their husbands in order to eliminate temptation

• this women wear the veil to honor their religion, it is voluntary, they say it is to protect themselves from unwanted male attention and some even describe it as ‘liberating’

• December of 2007, a father in Canada beat his 16-year-old daughter to death for refusing to wear a veil. This is an example of mail dominance and why women treatment is portrayed negatively in the media.

• "The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females" (Qur’an, Sura 4:11)