For he quoted from the Koran, saying that we must:
‘Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.’
In the entire speech this line was met with the wildest and most resounding applause. Other aspects of the speech were met with frostier silences. Such as when he touched on the greatest, and possibly the most irreconcilable difference between conservative Islam and the West; the treatment and position of women in society. Obama, echoing the criticisms of Islam that have been existed since time immemorial, said:
‘Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity - men and women - to reach their full potential’.
‘I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice’.
'That is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams’.
The silence from the audience can be again compared to other aspects of his speech, especially when he discussed the relationship between Israel and Palestine. On this front he was at his strongest and most resounding, reaffirming for any doubters that ‘the bond with [Israel] was unbreakable’, yet, for him, he would not be uncritical of the regime.
He then went on to speak eloquently about the problems that Israel and Palestine face and his very clear belief that curbing ‘illegal’ settlement activity by Israel and working for a two state solution was clear for developing ‘the road map for peace’.
Yet, his argument that the use of violence by the Palestinians (not mentioning violence done by Israel) is not effective and strips the nation of its ‘moral authority’ is one point that was quite dubious. For one, he then used the analogy that ‘black people in America… won full and equal rights’ not by violence but by a ‘determined insistence upon the ideals at the centre of America’s founding’. This argument wholly disregards the affects of the Civil War, and for Palestine, it disregards that it has been violence which has forced Israel to come to the negotiation table.
He also spoke about nuclear weapons, and his desire to avoid Iran obtaining this technology, which in his opinion, would lead to an ‘arms race in the Middle-East’. He seemed quite sincere in then suggesting that he understood why nations and people ‘protest that some countries have weapons that others do not’. But, that sincerity only went so far, he then predictably fell back on America’s long-held ‘desire’ to have a world with ‘no nuclear’ weapons, and asserted that ‘any nation’ should have ‘the right to access peaceful nuclear technology’. Concepts and statements that come straight from the 1968 Nuclear-Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Statements that sound as unlikely to be followed as they did forty years ago.
Next, Obama touched on the political- addressing both, a desire for religious freedom and the controversy that has existed in the last few years to America’s ‘promotion of democracy’ in the Middle-East. He argued that he believed in many of the cornerstones of democracy, ‘justice, tolerance and equality’ but wouldn’t presume that America ‘know[s] what’s best for everyone’.
The most prominent aspect of his speech, but probably the most forgettable, was his assertion that there was commonality between the cultures of Islam and United States. Not considering the validity of the statement, why this theme over every other will be forgotten is that the idea that there is unity and commonality between (apparently) vastly different groups manifests itself in everyone of Obama’ speech.
Whether it be between Republicans and Democrats, or between the African American and the White populations of the US, such is the repetitiveness of the idea, that we could tape statements like we need ‘principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity [for] all human beings’ and press play every time he walks out to speak.
Yet, all cynicism aside, the crowd did applaud widely when Obama told Cairo of Islam’s affect on the growth of modern America. He said:
‘And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers - Thomas Jefferson - kept in his personal library’
Finally, he made the point that ‘words alone cannot meet the needs of our people’; an assertion that is true, but with words and a reception like that, it must be said that words can go a long way to creating change, or at least in helping to change widely held perceptions.
We must however, remember at seemingly euphoric times like this, that Obama is an American, and will always be limited by that. He made the passing comment that it is ‘my first duty as President to protect the American people’, we’ll have to wait to see how and in what form he plans to uphold that most internationally incendiary of duties.