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  • Defeating the geopolitical mindset

    Jordan Times
    1 February 2010

    Defeating the geopolitical mindset

    Through the Wall of Fire: Armenia-Iraq-Palestine - From Wrath to Reconciliation

    Muriel Mirak-Weissbach

    Frankfurt/Main: edition fischer, 2009

    Pp. 380

    The parents of Muriel Mirak-Weissbach were both orphaned in the
    Armenian genocide of 1915. This set her on a path of discovering how
    to survive war and genocide, and go beyond to work for a better world
    where peace and social justice would preclude such atrocities. Her
    book is the culmination of insight gained from years of journalistic
    work and organising support for war victims.

    The title, `Through the Wall of Fire', refers to an episode in Dante's
    `Divine Comedy'. Only by putting aside his fears and self-obsession,
    and reaching out to the other, can the pilgrim pass through the `Wall
    of Fire' to enter Paradise. It is Mirak-Weissbach's belief that a
    similar process is required to solve the conflicts of Armenia, Iraq,
    Palestine and elsewhere. The fact that her own parents, along with
    thousands of Armenian children, were saved by ordinary Turkish
    citizens led her to reject the concept of collective guilt, and seek
    the real causes of war and genocide in `the geopolitical mind, a mode
    of thinking which disposes of peoples and nations as mere objects', in
    its pursuit of wealth and power. (p. 15)

    Mirak-Weissbach writes extremely well and her account of events
    leading up to the Armenian genocide is fascinating. She combines the
    machinations of the Great Powers on the eve of World War I, the rise
    of the Young Turks and their relations with some Zionist leaders, such
    as Vladimir Jabotinsky, with a focus on how these events impacted on
    ordinary people, especially children. She also focuses on children in
    the sections on Iraq and Palestine, for as she says: `It is only by
    grasping the deep psychological impact on the children that others may
    understand how prejudices, hatred, and the thirst for revenge can be
    passed on from generation to generation, until it may appear that no
    solution is in sight.' (pp. 9-10)

    This vantage point seems relevant to the Armenian-Turkish conflict
    where the author sees hope for reconciliation due to the regional
    shift that occurred after Georgia's 2008 move into South Ossetia, and
    Ankara's subsequent initiative to encourage cooperation between
    Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Russia. `But this will
    require that both sides go through the Wall of Fire', and `strive to
    overcome the bitterness, fears, and, yes, deeply engrained hatred,
    that the events of 1915 engendered'. (pp. 90-91)

    Despite its desirability, Mirak-Weissbach's concept of reconciliation
    seems less applicable in Iraq and Palestine where war and ethnic
    cleansing are not historical events but ongoing. For the Palestinians,
    it is not a question of hatred being passed on from generation to
    generation, but of daily siege and attacks that keep the conflict
    boiling, as the book describes very accurately.

    Nonetheless, the sections on Iraq and Palestine are very informative.
    The author is merciless in exposing the US and Israeli governments'
    false justifications for their genocidal policies. Particularly
    interesting is the account of how massive airlifts of humanitarian aid
    to Iraq were organised in the wake of the 1991 war, and how injured
    Iraqi children were sent to receive medical aid abroad. This was no
    small feat for the citizens' movement initiated by the author that
    managed to overcome numerous restrictions imposed by the US, UK and UN
    sanctions regime, as well as a host of unexpected logistical problems.
    The author's narration of the suffering of individual Iraqi families
    restores humanity to the statistics, while the Iraqi children sent
    abroad for medical treatment `turned out to be the most effective
    ambassadors for their nation', charming hospital staff in Germany and
    America alike. (p. 144) Moreover, this is one of few books published
    in English that evaluates Iraqi officials according to their actual
    performance instead of dismissing them out-of-hand with stereotyped
    labels.

    The strength of the section on Palestine lies in its economic
    analysis. According to Mirak-Weissman, the Oslo process failed because
    `it did not suit the tastes of powerful financial and political
    interests situated in the US, UK and Israel, who militantly opposed
    the birth of a sovereign Palestinian state with a thriving, advanced
    industrial economy'. She shows in detail how funding was engineered
    via the World Bank so as to make Palestinians `agree to work as slave
    labour in South African-style Bantustans'. (p. 219) In the ensuing
    situation, new outbreaks of violence were inevitable.

    This is an outstanding book for the author's ability to combine
    personal narrative with political analysis, to bring out previously
    unnoticed historical facts, and show the way forward to a better
    future.

    Sally Bland
    1 February 2010
    From: Baghdasarian
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