PSU Course PS473
Politics of North Africa
My class notes

Class "two" notes I took during class two:

1400 years ago no Arabs in Africa

Today: Arabic is the most widely spoken language in Africa

Arabs first went to Jerusalem then
they went across North Africa
finally to Mesopotamia

In 638 AD Arabs went to Jerusalem

At that time Jerusalem was ruled by the Byzantine Bishops of the Eastern Church

When Arabs arrived - Western Wall (A holy place to Jews)
had become a virtual garbage dump
Arabs cleaned it up so Jews could pray there.

for next 1100 years Arabs and Jews lived harmoniously

Jews were better off under Muslims than under Christians

Ottoman empire (Muslims) rescued Jews from Spain to
save them from the Inquisition

Ottomans built a synagogue in Istanbol for the jews
this synagogue still exits
-----------------------------------------------------------------


"DHIMMI" is the name applied
to indigenous non-Muslim populations by the Arab-Muslim conquerors

The word literally means "protected person"

Name comes for word treaty - a treaty is a dhimmi --
it was applied to those who surrendered to Muslim by a treaty .

Islamic conquests expanded over territories in
Africa, Europe and Asia, for over a millennium (638-1168)

Under sharia law, the dhimmi communities were subjected to their own special laws,
rather than to the laws applicable only to the Muslim community.

For example, the Ottoman millet system allowed its various dhimmi communities to rule themselves under separate legal courts

Another example, the Jewish community in Medina was allowed
to have its own Halakhic courts,

Note:
Halakha (also somethimes transliterated as halacha, halachah or halocho)
is the collective body of Jewish religious laws derived from the Written and Oral Torah.
It includes the 613 mitzvot ("commandments"), subsequent talmudic and rabbinic law
and the customs and traditions compiled in the Shulchan Aruch commonly known as the "Code of Jewish Law".

-------------------------------------------------------
Fustat - the predesssor to what is now Cairo

Arabs first built there

Note: the small Arab army kept winning and winning
against much larger armies

for example the Arabs conquered the Bedouins who had a much larger army

Muslims therefore ask "what is with us now"
why are we no longer winning

-------------------------------------------------------------
In North Africa the former colonies believed that
it was colonialism that kept them down

However, when they became free they tried to be
like their former masters.

They tried to establish instituions similar to that of their former masters.

-----------------------------
Modernization thesis

"Modernization Theory" says that traditional societies
will develop when they adopt more modern practices


For countries in North Africa, this meant
adoting the instituions of their former masters, France, British, Italian, etc

It failed -- it did not work

King Hassan of Morocco - early on - said it did not work

Since the imported instituions did not work
countries reverted to Single Party Rule


Poor countires could not affort the inefficiency
of multiparty rule

we (more or less) get along with a Congress that does not work
because our contry is so rich


Many in Africa believe
only way to catch up is single party rule
-----------------------------------------------------------------------\

ISIS - we are using a cannon to get rid of a very pesty mosquito
causes great damage while it does kill the mosquiteo
-------------------------------------------------

Tribal societies have some strange ideas
arrested a person with glasses --
he must be a spy
why else would he use four eyes

-----------------
Our experiences are far removed from theirs 
they can not relate to our ideas

----------------------------------
Christians in Africa speak Arabic -- it is national language


--------------------------------------------------
We should not blindly believe what the press reports
-------------------
In Iraq
Statute of Saddam being destroyed was widely publicizes
to show how people hated him
Press did not show entire square -- it fact it was mostly empty

Marines had bused in people from a Shi village (who did hate Saddam)
to destroy the statute

---------------------------------------
PNAC Project for an American Century.

Neocons

Idea "We can reshape the world in our image.
Do it now before there is someone that can stop us.
a "window of opportunity"

Wanted to remove leaders of:
Iran, Iraq, Senegal, Lebanon, Sudan, Somalia
added North Korea so they would not all be Muslin.

IRAN did not like this
they have a 3000 year history of art, poetry, etc.

People from PNAC went into the Bush administration

organization ended in about 2006
----------------------------------------------


In Quran -- it is forbidden to convert by force