History is just as important as maths

Shock reactions to the gruesome and condemnable persecution of Yazadis and Christians in Iraq have once again been greeted in the social media as proof of the barbarism of Islam.

Some even tried to use these images to justify or counterbalance equally gruesome images coming from Gaza where children have been killed in UN run schools while seeking shelter from bombs falling a country, which is blockaded, from the rest of the world.

I have to admit that I had only a vague knowledge of the Yazidis before Isis attacked them but their fate and curious beliefs reminded me of the fate of the Cathars in medieval France.

For anyone who knows some history would wonder at the diversity of religious identities found in the Middle East where one finds Yazadi, Druze, Christians and Jewish communities. In Europe one finds none of this diversity, not because it never existed but because it was eliminated. 

Official crusades were authorised to eradicate the Cathars and the Pagan Lithuanians, the Sephardic Jews were expelled from the Spanish empire in 1492 while the Muslims of Spain were systematically persecuted and expelled in the early 17th century.

When the Christians conquered Jerusalem in 1099 they massacred many of the city’s Jewish and Muslim inhabitants, 

In subsequent years the Knight Templars and the Order of Saint John behaved much in the very same way as Isis today.

Upon re-conquering Jerusalem Saladin shamed the Crusaders by treating the city with kindness and keeping every promise he made to its people.

To this day one finds Christian communities living in Muslim communities. Gaza itself is home to 2000 Christians.

Surely knowledge of history debunks the myth that Muslims are by nature prone to barbarism. 

It also debunks the myths of muslim fanatics who want to rebuild the caliphate while actually behaving in a way, which probably makes Saladin revolt in his grave.

Much also can be said of accusation of anti Semitism levelled against anyone who dares criticise the policies of the state of Israel which is currently governed by Likud in coalition with far right parties.

It is true that some anti Semites perpetrate hatred of Jews by sharing gruesome photos of maimed Palestinian children. 

But the same crime is committed by islamophobes  sharing gruesome photos of Christians persecuted by Isis  in their attempt to depict all Muslims as barbarians.

Knowledge of history would also put accusations of “anti Semitism” in a historical context. 

History shows that while anti Semitism is deeply rooted in European history, the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine is rooted in the decision by British colonialists to promise Palestine as a homeland to a Zionist lobby in the Balfour declaration.

Zionism must be seen in a context where European Jews were threatened by deep rooted anti Semitism in Europe.  But it is also a historical fact that some notable Jews expressed reservations.

Prophetically in 1938 Albert Einstein wrote that he would rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state.

“My awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power, no matter how modest. I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain—especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks, against which we have already had to fight strongly, even without a Jewish state. ... If external necessity should after all compel us to assume this burden, let us bear it with tact and patience."

Although he later supported the establishment of Israel as an independent state Einstein was one of the authors of an open letter to the New York Times in 1948 deeply criticizing Menachem Begin's Herut (Freedom) Party for the Deir Yassin massacre likening it to "the Nazi and Fascist parties" and stated "The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party".

Einstein was apparently guilty of the same sin committed by those who raised parallels between the acts of the Nazis and the policies of the present Israeli government.

Most of current problems in Middle East have their origins in arbitrary decision by French and British colonialists in the way they defined borders and co-opted elites.

This does not absolve Arabs and Muslims from their failure to construct viable democracies and the emergence of brutal dictatorships and corrupt regimes.  The export of retrograde wahhabism from the oil rich Arabian Peninsula has also contributed to cultural backwardness.  Some like Fisk see the hand of western backed Saudi Arabia in the sudden rise of Isis.

But the emergence of reactionary movements like Isis must be seen in light of western policies aimed at subverting secular and revolutionary nationalists like Nasser in Egypt and Mosaddegh in Persia. 

By the time of the Arab spring what remained of Arab secular nationalism was a crop of corrupt dictators and family dynasties either backed by western money or clinging to power by brute force. 

Moreover the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent purge of Sunnis from public life carried on first by the US occupation forces and than by Al Maliki have created the vacuum filled by Isis which in the meantime tapped some of the funds arriving from the gulf to support the insurgency against Assad.

It is these historical complications, which contradict the sound bite culture, which has taken over the social media.  That is why I would make a case for giving history the same importance as mathematics in our educational curriculum.  For one may be technically qualified but still vulnerable to the worse concoctions of ignorance and prejudice.

Surely historical interpretations differ and many people who know their history may differ from my opinions. But what frightens me most is the inability to interpret facts in a critical way.  This is why history, the humanities and critical thinking in general should be elevated in our education system.