To Sophie

Submitted by M'Hamed CHETTALI (Belgium), Feb 15, 2006 at 06:19

Dear Sophie,

I fully agree with you that extremism and violence are not the privilege of the poor. On the contrary, many educated people indulge in advocating violence and disseminating hate. Some educated people distance themselves from barbarian talk and advocate violence through the more fashionable term of leadership.

The best example of this is the Statement of Principles of the Project for The New American Century. You should know that Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz are among its signatories. Some, advocate violence through the so-called clash of civilizations. I think of Tony Blankett as an example. And some just say it as it is. I think of Seth J. Frantzman. He said that ‘We should employee the Kurds against Fallujah, the Sunnis against the Shiias and the Shiias we should just expel. And as we let them fight each other, we can meanwhile begin bringing in Christian missionaries to convert the Iraqis'.

You see, there is no reason to assume that the masses are more prone to violence than educated people. I believe it's important that people of good faith increase vigilance and exercise more freedom in thinking. In this respect, doubt is a virtue. I have no reason to believe that the Danish imams wanted violence. But, maybe you have more substantiated information. In my opinion, it is more important to condemn violence and to honestly investigate its roots.

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