How to counter this...

[ed miliband]

My dad is talking about the ethnic conflict in central Asia. His central point is that Muslims should not complain about what happens in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. unless they "complain" about the Kyrgyz/Uzbek conflict. If they are unhappy about what happens in Middle Eastern states at the hands of non-Muslims, then they are hypocrites for not being vocal about situations when Muslims turn on Muslims.

uh... yeah.

He's very, very much a Zionist.

[ContrarianLemming]

I think that's like saying "if you criticize the US instead of criticizing North Korea then you don't know shat"
To be fair, he does have a point, but it's sort of unrelated, they should be free to criticize whoever they want, that's the point of free speech, even if they never criticize Hamas

[Tifosi]

Did he talk about any person or group, or just Muslims in general? Last time I checked Muslims aren't all the same and hold different views on things. I'm 100% sure that there are loads of Muslims that as you put it "complain about the Kyrgyz/Uzbek conflict".

[Animal Farm Pig]

If your father is saying that one cannot opposing about oppression in one place without always simultaneously all other types of oppression in all other places, he's just trying to distract from the issue. The correct way to deal with this is to say, "Yes, I understand that what is happening in (X) is horrible, but we're not talking about that. We're talking about (Y)."

If your father is saying that Arab governments use the Palestinian struggle to distract from other issues and demand that Israel uphold much higher ethical standards than they do, he would be correct.

[ed miliband]

If your father is saying that one cannot opposing about oppression in one place without always simultaneously all other types of oppression in all other places, he's just trying to distract from the issue. The correct way to deal with this is to say, "Yes, I understand that what is happening in (X) is horrible, but we're not talking about that. We're talking about (Y)."

If your father is saying that Arab governments use the Palestinian struggle to distract from other issues and demand that Israel uphold much higher ethical standards than they do, he would be correct.

When the debate started it was the first point, and when it ended it was the second, which I did agree with.

Initially he was not talking about Arab governments, but Muslim people as a whole.

[Muzk]

You shouldn't debate with your daddy, he might hurt you, and we do not want that.

In fact, one should never try to win over an argument on issues such as this with a relative. At least not if you still depend on them in one way or another.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I agree that this tactic is a diversion - when things become indefensible, you often hear arguments like: "well the US in Iraq is bad, but in Saudi Arabia, someone got put to death for selling alcohol... why don't you protest that?" or "Well the cops in Oakland shot an unarmed black kid, but black gangsters in Oakland killed 5 black kids in the last few months... why don't you protest that*?"

There is no shortage of shit to be upset by in this society/world so how do you choose what to focus your efforts on changing?

1. The Palestinian movement has some general demands such as right of return and an end to the military occupation and an end to settlements. So we can rally behind these demands in solidarity.

It's the same with Iran - anti-anti-war people used to tell me to "protest Iran" instead... well guess what, when there was a movement for increased rights, I did support those demands. I don't support just protesting Iran outside of the solidarity protests because what would be the implication of these protests, what would we be calling for on a practical level: the US should change the regime in Iran.

2)What's more is that in the US particularly (but in other countries as well) there is direct financial and military support for Israel and the occupation. This is what makes it possible in the US to have a divestment campaign - we can put pressure on the US government to stop funding the occupation and to fund reparations for Palestinians.

Basically, to counter this kind of argument, turn the question back on them. What kinds of demands do people who say we should protest sexism/theocracy in Saudi Arabia, oppression in North Korea? How do you practically have influence in these places when you don't live there, don't have connections to social forces there? Essentially their only options would be to call for the US or some other military power to come in with a military force to change the situation.




*My answer: when Oakland puts gangbangers on the city payroll to the tune of $70k a year, arm them, train them, give them cars, provide them legal defense, and allow them carte blanche to beat people up... then I will protest and demand that this "gang" be smashed. But that won't happen because this gang already exists and is called the police.