IS
Mohammad
Ali Salih
Last
month, I published a piece in “The
But most
of the comments from Arabs and Sudanese were about one sentence in the piece.
First,
the sentence, and then some of the comments (Arabic and English) for the sake
of a wider discussion:
---------------------------------
THE
SENTENCE:
“But, in
spite of its mistakes, I believe
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RESPONSES:
Salih, Ya
Sudani:
Of course
anyone who is from Argo (which as you explained just heard about mobile
phones!!) will be proud to be naturalized as American and be fond of so called
freedom and democracy in the
To think
that the US is "God's heavens on earth", as you put it, is highly
naive and flies in the face of well-documented inequality and human-right
abuses in the history of the US, both locally and abroad (Iraq and Hurricane
Katrina are just two recent examples to mention(
Also, in
no other western democracy does a president's son or wife succeeds him to the
throne
Despite your newly-acquired passport, you are still very Sudanese in
manners...both simplistic and chauvinistic!!!
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Mr. Salih:
I
understand you eagerness to please your American friends. Looks like this is all what you do everyday
in
Ahmed.
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Mohammad:
I live in
Yesterday,
I returned with my daughter from the hospital after an unfortunate
accident. My daughter is fine, and
probably wouldn’t have lived if it wasn’t for the kindness of the doctor. I am not saying the ability of the
doctor. She is a woman. It was her
kindness. First, she was straightforward
and smiling all the time. Second, she makes me feel I am a human being.
I have
been to many Sudanese hospitals. Please
don’t misunderstand me. I am not talking
about Americans more advanced. I am
talking about them friendlier, and always smiling. I have never seen a smiling doctor, or nurse
for that matter, in
O.S.O.
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Hey!!!!!!
What are
doing in the
Go back
to your village!!!!!!!!!!!
Me
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Dear Mr.
Salih:
You made
us very proud. I wish we all Arab
journalists here in
Not only
your ability and views. Also the courage
to say things we probably cannot say.
With the
But you
criticized this killing in a nice way and, at the same time, present yourself
as a proud American, and defended
I would
like to be like you: separate criticism from the love of
Fellow
Reporter
---------------------------------------------
My dear
Sudanese:
You are
really off mark in what you said. You
are on the edges of being a kafir, like the Americans you are praising.
How do
you say
There is
only one heaven, and it is not on this earth.
Or did
the Americans stole your mind?
Another
Sudanese
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Ya Akhi:
Ya Akhi:
and you talk about the greatest country on the face of earth.
Akhouk.
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Mr. Salih:
It may
not be heaven on earth. But, to be honest
with you, I just like their pride and
decency.
Abdul…..
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Dear Arab
and Muslim brother:
You wrote
in your article that you work for an Arab newspaper. So, you must be following Arabic news,
Are you
out of your mind?
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Mohammad:
Thank you
for a well-balanced piece. You
criticized the
M.I.
(Arab journalist in
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Dear
Mohammad:
(Please
don’t feel bad about this comment):
I congratulate you on your success in reaching the readers of the Washington
Times which is an achievement by itself due to the well known political and
ideological leaning and biases of its management and writers (not usually
favorable toward Arabs and Muslims)
But, I'm
wondering whether your statement (about American being God’s heaven on earth)
contained a little bit unnecessary exaggerations regarding the true
history of how this country was built.
How about
Native Americans???
M.S., Ph.D. (Arab journalist in
-----------------------------------------
REPLY:
Brother M.S.:
Thank you for your kind comments.
Remember, I said: “Despite its mistakes.”
These include: Native Americans, Slavery, KKK, imperialism, excessive
capitalism, excessive rationalism, excessive individualism, Afghanistan,
Iraq, Israel, militarism, arrogance, etc...
But, I strongly believe that, in historical prospective, nations are like
men. The best among them are the good,
and the best among the good are the free, and the best among the free are the
moral. (It is the freedom to make mistakes and to correct them).
Some wrote me asking whether the above sentence was the price to have my
piece published in "The
Now, there is something more important than me and my piece: US AND OUR
PIECES.
Like Brother El-Sitouhi (President of Association of Arab
Journalists in
Regards.
Mohammad Ali Salih
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