Why we dont talk about humanitys ugly side and torture
Looking at some
of the tools and
tactics of torture,
it is beyond shocking, yet it has been going on for centuries. There have been extremist groups
for hundreds of years, and war
criminals existed then and do so today
Rym Ghazal
You have no other choice: you must continue. If that line sounds familiar, then at some point, someone in authority has pushed you to do something you werent comfortable with. Sometimes it is a teacher, sometimes it is a doctor, sometimes it is even a parent. As several famous psychological experiments have shown, we have tendencies not to question those in authority when we are put under pressure.
There are also certain topics we dont like to discuss, even if, tragically, they may be common practice in war zones, jails and some homes in this region and beyond. We skim over stories in which there are mentions of torture without really pausing to absorb its meaning.
To counter that, an Egyptian historian made a brave move a few years ago when he opened his own torture museum in Cairo. His aim was to force visitors to have a hard look at this ugly reality. A video about this facility is doing the rounds on social media. For the past few decades, there has been a steady departure of Arab nationals from around the Middle East who seek out greener pastures elsewhere and many have never returned. People are in constant migration throughout the world, that is nothing new.
However, I regularly get emails from people whose ancestors were of Arab origin especially if I have just written a piece on Arab literature or history asking me about the best way to learn Arabic, and seeking recommendations for Arabic literature.
December 18 was UN Arabic Language Day. Many people made it their mission to speak only Arabic on that day. As I worked on finding the origin of this language spoken by millions of people worldwide, I found even this bit is shrouded in mystery, as with many things we try to document properly in this region. So as with everything Arab, even the language begins with a legend.
It is said the language was named after Yarub bin Yashjub bin Qahtan, who is said to have been the son or grandson of Qahtan (biblical Joktan) and who is believed to have first spoken the language we know today as Arabic or Al Arabi.
He is also credited with the creation of the first form of written Arabic: Kufic, an angular script believed to have been developed in the 7th century. Then there is a legend that Prophet Ismail, son of Prophet Ibrahim, was the one who first spoke Arabic.
There is yet another legend, said Hasan Al Naboodah, who is an Emirati historian and dean of the college of humanities and social sciences at the UAE University in Al Ain.
Three people from the tribe of Tayy put the letters of the Arabic alphabet and measured the Arabic dialogue on Syriac tone. Some people from Anbar learnt it and moved to the Kingdom of Al Hira in Iraq, and then from there went to Mecca, he says.
Arabic could be even older.
Early Arabic sources mention that Arabic was the language spoken by Adam, the first man created by God, he says.
A language so beautiful, so diverse and deep, with so many words for love, even as it is now being hijacked by terrorist groups such as ISIL who have released colourful, well-designed mobile apps that teach children hate and violence via words.
Called Huroof (meaning letters in Arabic) and Mualim Al Huroof (alphabet teacher), it teaches words such as saif (sword) and dabbaba (tank) and includes games and anasheed Islamic spiritual songs with extremist terms and concepts at the heart of them.
So not only do they prey on vulnerable and traumatised children in war zones, they are reaching out to children beyond via technology.
In it, Mohammad Abdul Wahab says that he hopes his museum will deter would-be oppressors from resorting to torture. The first of its kind in the Middle East, it will be open only on June 26, which is the UNs international day in support of torture victims.
Looking at some of the tools and tactics of torture, it is beyond shocking, yet it has been going on for centuries. There have been extremist groups for hundreds of years, and war criminals existed then and do so today.
We have a tendency to believe that we would never hurt another nor allow any form of violence if we were in power. That is why the 1961 electric-shock studies by Stanley Milgram continue to intrigue us so many years later.
Under the watch of an expert, the volunteer (dubbed the teacher) would read out strings of words to his partner (the learner) who was hooked up to an electric-shock machine in the other room.
Each time the learner made a mistake in repeating the words, the teacher was to deliver a shock of increasing intensity, and even when they expressed doubt and discomfort, they continued to obey orders. While these experiments have been highly debated, they still revealed an interesting side of human nature.
Milgram concluded that people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative, even when acting against their own better judgment.
In Lebanon, many years ago, I met and interviewed a former prisoner who had spent a decade in a Syrian jail. The first thing he said to me was that he was not normal anymore. Even the sound of flies buzzing near my ears make me scream.
Besides being a victim of unspeakable forms of torture, he was forced to torture others he was sharing a cell with. They said, You have no choice, you do it, or we will make him do it, and torture you more, he said. Some journalists questioned the authenticity of his claims, perhaps because some of the torture tactics were too horrible to believe. A psychologist said his mannerism of shifting the blame on officials was a survival tactic, so that he could live with himself after committing torture against another inmate. Whatever the case, this man of 30 looked much older.
His own family found him majnoun (crazy) and difficult. He would wander about in dirty clothes, talking to himself, and ran away whenever someone called out his name. As the wars in this region continue, we must do something to help the victims of torture through special programmes as well as kindness and patience. This man had no one to help him.
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