Obama promises "to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam" in major addess in Egypt

The President's speech received a standing ovation from its Cairo audience and this Huffington Post report indicates why:

"In a gesture to the Islamic world, Obama conceded at the beginning of his remarks that tension "has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear," said the president, who recalled hearing prayer calls of "azaan" at dawn and dusk while living in Indonesia as a boy."

A few immediate reactions from commentators: 

James Forsyth: "Obama’s speech to the ‘Muslim world’ in Egypt was full of necessary fictions. But more substantively it set out what Obama sees as seven areas where progress must be made if tensions are to be eased: the fight against violent extremism, Israel / Palestine, Iran’s nuclear ambition, democracy, religious freedom, womens’ rights and economic development. Missing from the speech was a clear appreciation that violent extremism comes out of an extremist ideology. Violent extremism cannot be defeated until the ideology that lies behind it is tackled."

Janet Daley: "The White House presented this speech as "a beginning" and made it clear that it did not expect the problems of the region to be transformed overnight. The question is, what happens next? Mr Obama's requests for Hamas to lay down its arms, and Israel to accept a two-state solution are not going to be met (at least not in the immediate future). Violent extremism is not going to be roundly eliminated by Muslim governments. Islamic women are not going to be given equal opportunties for education, and Arab regimes are not going to embrace human rights, however universal Mr Obama believes their value to be. The White House is presumably aware of all this. Will the speech then simply become another symbol of the Obama moral superiority over his bellicose, tactless predecessor, and so serve purely the interests of domestic politics? Or could it be a useful pretext for justifying later military action on the basis that diplomacy had been tried and proved futile? Does the White House have a plan for what happens when the Muslim world applauds but fails to change course?"

Andrew Sullivan: "I think the last decade or so has shown the extreme limits of hard power and the desperate need for more public diplomacy, national re-branding and some shrewd maneuvering to advance the interests of the West and to help avoid what could be a catastrophic era in global politics. I still believe in the prudent use of military force, and the need to keep a threat of such force in diplomacy. But the great challenge of the war against Jihadist terror is shifting the psyches of countless young Muslims, from Pakistan to Morocco. That we have chance to do that with this president is itself testimony to democracy's capacity for correcting mistakes and the strength of its ethnic and cultural diversity in appealing to the wider world."

Ali Abunimah of 'Electronic Intifada': "He may have more determination than his predecessor but he remains committed to an unworkable two-state "vision" aimed not at restoring Palestinian rights, but preserving Israel as an enclave of Israeli Jewish privilege. It is a dead end."

Michael Rubin: "Obama studiously avoids the word democracy.  Instead, he declared, "That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people."  Dictators of the world, relax: Stage a spontaneous demonstration to demonstrate popular adulation; don't worrt about those pesky votes."

Full text.

Comments

[Ad]

A very good pragmatic speech and an important step to (whilst remaining cautious) try to quell stereotypes of Islam from people who often know nothing about it.

[Iain]

Well as its Islam that is creating these negative stereotypes then he's got a problem.

[Ad]

An interpretation of Islam called political Islam or Islamism Iain.

[A selective use of the facts]

Perhaps he might have addressed the backward aspects of Islam enshrined in Sharia law that have wilfully kept Islam in the dark ages.

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that thinks a womans testimony is half that of a mans ot that adulters stoned to death ot limbs should be amputated for theft.

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that teaches that non muslims (dhimmis) are lesser than muslims.

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that persecutes and murders apostates from Islam.

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that occupied Lebanon (Syria) or Kurdistan (arab states) or wants to put the Phillipines under Islamic rule.

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that is massacring sudanese muslims.

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that persecutes and murders ahmadiya, shia and gay muslims.

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that views Spain (Al Andalus) as occupied territoy (sacred space)

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that persecutes Palestinian Christians, Coptic Christians, Maronite Christians, Iraqi Chaldean Christians - all of these are Arabs.

It isn't so called "Islamophobia" or "colonialism" that invaded Europe many times over the centuries.

[Tanuki]

When we see mosques offering same-sex wedding-services, men and women are treated equally under the law and Mecca has a range of gay bars, only then will I consider Mohammedanism to have woken up to the mores of the current millennium.

[Johan]

Stereotypes are perhaps sometimes not untrue.
If so, if Obama therefore is going to fight all "negative stereotypes", then he is going to fight the truth. These truths may be valuable for non-Muslims Americans to know about.

[Joe Otten]

A great speech. It will upset supporters of conflict between Christians and Muslims on both sides, but they need to grow up.

[mamapajamas]

Islam itself could do the most to fight negative stereotypes if they would act to keep the loonies in their midst from bombs on themselves to take out civilian targets.

[runescape gold]

I feel like time is going incredibly fast and slow at the same time. The weeks/months seem to be crawling...but at the same time, I turn around on Monday and suddenly it is Sunday again