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Crusades, Jihadists and Conflict Resolution-Part II.

Prof. Hasan Yahya

Everywhere, in the aftermath of 9/11 waves of shock, grief, fear, and anxiety reverberated not just through New York and Washington but throughout the United States . Due to the unpredictability and massive scale of the violence of terrorism, the trauma symptoms it causes travel well.

Among majority of Arabs and Muslims,  Unfortunately,  911 was privately applauded. For a simple reason, the slogans of freedom, economy and politics were attacked. That was unbelievable event in modern times. While doubt remains about inside helping hand, the success brought world attention, a proverb says in Arabic: (the mosquito can make the lion’s eye bloody.) Islam is a slogan, cannot be destroyed or demolished easily as a reaction for 911. Unless justice prevails. And Islam has to be respected. The millions of faithful, do not apprehend this wave against Islam from some intellectuals who had certain purposes to achieve in the western world. Some of them may be sincere to change wrongs committed against Muslims and Arabs in recent years. The new Muslim generations have to be given the benefits of doubt to be protecting human rights on mutual respect, when people loose their dignity, beware of their offspring.            

What was amazing that after the pope speech. Something startling happened. Thousands of knights swear that they see the clouds part and an image of the Holy City appear in the sky. They fall to their knees in wonder, knowing the certain that God wills the Crusade. And the waves of Crusade began. 

Was it true? Sins of nobles and knights will be forgiven?  Who played the role of God in that time to grant such forgiveness? He was the pope Urban II. This is not strange, because Compared with Khumeini  of Iran who played the same role in 1980. as the pope, by making fatwa for martyrs young people in the fight with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Paradise was guaranteed according to Khumeini.

Returning to the book title: People are no idiots, of course. They know the Crusade was  a war between Christians and Muslims for control of the Holy Land. However, these bloody conflicts raged over centuries, under changing circumstances, making the whole story difficult to follow.

You don’t have to don armor and cross deserts to relieve the Crusades! In The Complete Idiot’s Guide, which is a website, for the Crusades shows why these wars began? why they continued for so long? and how their impact on the world still resonates.? This Complete Idiot’s Guide as they announce show much of the dark ages and the Renaissance, and why the Pope Urban II would grant absolution to anyone who reclaimed the Holy Land for Christianity.

George W. Bush and the Crusades an article by Alan Woods Begins with this statement: 

 ”On the eve of the war in Iraq, George W. Bush talked about a “crusade”. He was obviously quite pleased with himself for having thought of such a catchy phrase. But he was quickly silenced by his advisers, who pointed out to him that the word “crusade” has very unfortunate associations for the Moslem world. After that, the word was quietly dropped from his vocabulary.”

 For most people – including the Bush Administration in the White House,   ” were something one vaguely remembers from the movies, where they are presented in a glamorous and romantic light, as the highest expression of Christian chivalry. The reality was rather different.”

 Dr. Wood’s book is interesting, he  explained what were the crusade, the Crusades and the Jews, The Crusades in Jerusalem, the religious-military Orders, the Economic interests, then Saladin and Richard (The Lion Heart), plus many interesting historical facts. What is interesting is what he brought. Some comments of the crusaders about the Jews made in  N. Cohn, book: The Pursuit of the Millennium, p. 70.) he brought this quote:

 ”We have set out to march a long way to fight the enemies of God in the East, and behold, before our very eyes are his worst foes, the Jews. They must be dealt with first.” And again: “You are the descendants of those who killed and hanged our God. Moreover [God] himself said: ‘The day will yet dawn when my children will come and avenge my blood.’ We are his children and it is our task to carry out his vengeance upon you, for you showed yourselves obstinate and blasphemous towards him … [God] has abandoned you and has turned his radiance towards us and has made us his own.” (p70)

Hasan Yahya is a professor of sociology and a culumnist writer at worldfuture, Malaysia and TINA International News Agency, Chicago.



By: hasan yahya

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Conflicts are a normal part of life. We interact with so many different people in so many different situations that we’re bound to run into difficulties.

A conflict is a disagreement where those involved feel that they are somehow being threatened. It could be that they perceive a threat to their way of thinking, their interests, position, possessions – anything that they hold of value. Because of this, even though a conflict is a disagreement, it can be emotionally fueled.

The most effective conflict resolution is one in which you get what you want while helping the other party get what he wants. It sounds contradictory, but it’s really not.

When you negotiate to secure your wants and take into account the wants of your counterpart, he will be more likely to work with you and help you achieve your goals. At the same time, he’s less likely to feel defensive, aggressive or confrontational.

Effective conflict resolution requires good negotiating skills. Good negotiating skills require practice and thought. While there are many factors to consider when entering into a negotiation, let’s start by looking at four overarching elements of effective negotiation to resolve conflict:

1. Know what you want and/or need.

This may seem obvious, but sometimes we enter into a negotiation knowing sort of what we want, but not specifically.

The point of negotiating is to secure what it is that you want, or get as close to it as possible. When you know what that is, write it down and be clear. State why you want it. This is your starting point.

It’s also good to recognize what isn’t as important to you. There may be something that you’d be willing to give up as part of the negotiation. Create a priority scale that outlines the most important to least important needs so you know your “want parameters.”

2. Know what the other person wants and/or needs.

Like you, the person you’re negotiating with has their own wants. Discuss what they’re looking to accomplish from the negotiation and listen carefully.

3. Discuss and clarify.

Discuss which points you agree on and to what extent. Determine which goals, relative to the negotiation, that you both have in common.

Define and talk about all issues or concerns. It can be a daunting task to try to deal with all issues at once, so list all issues, prioritize them, and approach them one by one.

Through discussion, you’ll both have a better understanding of one another. This will help you create a mutually acceptable agreement.

4. Work together towards an agreement.

It’s important to work as a team to create an agreement because all parties need to have ownership of it and the responsibility for it. This kind of collaboration results in an agreement that responds to both parties’ wants and needs.

Take some time to consider what you can do for your counterpart to help him secure what he’s negotiating for. This doesn’t mean acquiescing what you want. Chances are, however, that if you’re willing to help your counterpart get what he wants, he’ll be more likely to help you get what you want.

Above all, make sure that the agreement is:

fair

realistic

doable

clear

understandable.

In addition, the agreement should:

outline roles and responsibilities with enough detail that everyone understands their part and can take action

have a timeline, if relevant.

While there are many other factors to establish an environment for effective negotiation, these four steps provide a solid foundation for good negotiation and conflict resolution.



By: Laurie Wilhelm

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Crusades, Jihadists and Conflict Resolution-Part III.

Prof. Hasan Yahya

Coming back to Hamas and Hizbullah and Kashmiris militants, and their legitimate causes (but not their practices against civilians). Every person with mind stands against terrorist acts against civilians (Jews or Christians or else), but in the same time their argument is logical as oppressed people in a world does not recognize their rights. In a world did not respect rights and appreciate power. When dignity is lost, every body may have to pay to regain such dignity in any way possible. The United States to regain its dignity loss in 911, strived and brought all its alliance friends to stand with her, (including some Arab states: Egypt, and Syria etc.,) in order to regain American dignity. If we blame America for its wars in the Middle East, Jihadists in Hamas and Hizbullah must be blamed for fighting for their dignity. Both are wrong by using the only method to regain dignity, undermining other solutions for conflicts which should be on the table to solve them, even in terms of retaining dignity to save civilians rights in the free world. The question remains: Who causes all the recent miss in the Middle East, the Jihadists, or the Western poppet, Democratic Israel in the Middle East? Invading Iraq was an attempt to save Israel, which occupied Palestine, that was the main cause I invite any one to find the causes, no one may miss them. Because in logic and reasoning, we learned, the true consequences followed mostly by the true causes.

Conflict Management in this case, should take religion as encouraging factor to solve disputes. For several reasons: 1) more than two thirds of the world population belong to a religion. Where according to data ten years ago, 29.2% of the religious constituency was Christian; 17.9% Muslim; 13% Hindu; 5.7% Buddhist/Shintoist; 0.7% Confucianism/Taoist. Together, all those religious organizations have a huge infrastructure with a communication network reaching to all corners of the world. They have a great responsibility and leadership is expected from them. 2) Religious organizations can rely on a set of soft power sources to influence the peace process. Scientists on conflict resolution developed a useful taxonomy for understanding the different bases of power. It asserts that six different sources of power exist for influencing another’s behavior: reward, coercion, expertise, legitimacy, reference, and information. (Raven and Rubin, 1983). Only rewards and coercion are used by the United States, rewards to governments, and coercion of these governments to abide with rules of War on terrorism instead of rewarding Jihadists by understanding their requests, and solving injustices historically made earlier, the United States is using power to give them illegitimacy and coercion.

I believe that religious organizations have a major impact on inter-communal and international conflicts including the Jihadists. During the Cold War, religious as well as ethnic and nationalist conflicts were relatively neglected in the study of international relations and peace research. After the defeat  of the communist block, the escalation of nationalist and religious conflicts were observed. The religious dimension of conflicts,  remains an under-researched field. There is no useful typology of religious conflicts; it is also observed, that no serious study of the impact of religious organizations on conflict behavior; no comparative research of peace-making and peace-building efforts of different religious organizations. Generalizing terrorism to Islam as a religion,  (As atheists and others claim) will deteriorate the situation and block peaceful solutions.

In conclusion I would agree with Luc Reychler, in his article: Introduction: Towards a Religion of World Politics. that the world cannot survive in the same way with persisting problems without a new global ethic, and religions play a major role, as parties in violent conflicts, as passive bystanders and as active peace-makers and peace-builders. I think, representing two thirds of the world population, religions have a major responsibility in creating a constructive conflict culture. Scientist have to stop being passive bystanders and organize themselves to provide more effective peace services. Religions and religious organizations have an untapped and under-used integrative power potential. At least  to understand which factors enhance or inhibit joint peace ventures between the Christian religions, but also between the prophetic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), the Indian religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and the Chinese wisdom religions, is an urgent research challenge. Jihadists after all represent a large number of people  who feels injustices made against their religion and nations intentionally or otherwise, They have to be sharing the blame as well as the solution for conflicts worldwide. Because terrorism and wars are devastating in their consequences on all. We have to bring here Bertrand Russell (the American-British philosopher) who  provided certain methods to close the gap of hostility among cultures, namely, using education as a tool for reciprocal understanding, and mutual respect, and dignity,  he wrote:

“I would have the schools in India teach the virtues of Muhammadans, and the schools in Pakistan teach virtues of Hindus, I would have Zionists taught the merits of Arabs, and the Arabs taught the merits of Jews. I would have the West taught that even Russians are human beings, and the Russians taught that not all Westerners are lackeys of capitalism.” Russell (1961:71)(From Crescentology, Theory C. of conflict Management and Cultural Normalization, 2008)

** Dr. Hasan Yahya is a professor of sociology and a culumnist at worldfutures, Malaysia, and TINA International News Agency, Chicago, USA.



By: hasan yahya

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