Blindspot!
From Issue: 728 [Read full issue]
Ethical Counterpowers
Ethical counterpowers must emerge at the heart of civil societies as minds struggle against propaganda, lies, and disinformation. We must reconcile these factors with complex, in-depth debates and serious reading. This turn of mind must be allied to national and international actions that fight for the dignity of women and men, of citizens, foreigners, and immigrants; for the right to welfare, health, education, freedom, justice, and solidarity; and more broadly for the rule of law, independence, and pluralism. We must be ambitious without illusion and humble without naivete; the road will be very long. This is because the ambition to resist must be combined with humility about projects undertaken and results achieved.
This is in keeping with fundamental spiritual teachings: the imperative requirement of resisting with one's heart, conscience, and skills; determined patience and active perseverance to go on; confidence in the name of meaning, regardless of results. This is how Muslim spirituality, echoing all the spiritualities in the world, teaches the meaning of dignity. We should never turn into dreamers or idealists finding legitimacy in aspirations to a hereafter. We must look squarely at humans, hypocrisies, and lies; we must simplify nothing. Nothing will be changed, for instance, by denouncing wars and promoting wide-eyed, improbable pacifism. Lucidity requires us to denounce all aspects of the business of war and promote a profound, uncompromising ethics of peace. Victims have this right over our intelligence and commitments. What spirituality and meaning first and foremost require are competence, realism, consistency, and earnestness.
Compiled From:
"Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation" - Tariq Ramadan, pp. 291, 292