If you’ve ever had the misfortune to have
insomnia and by mistake turned on the late night US TV you’ve likely seen a
tall buffoon, with a Hollywood hairstyle, and ill fitting Armani suits,
haranguing a group of young wannabe Real Estate tycoons. It’s the ultimate in
job interviews. Trump’s Apprentice show – despite his boorish behaviour,
arrogant attitude and gigantic ego -always gained strong TV ratings. But
“That’s entertainment” as they say.
So the ultimate Reality TV star won the
top job, and can follow in the footsteps of other entertainment luminaries like
the co-star of the Hollywood blockbuster “Bedtime for Bonzo” – and 40th
President of the United States – Ronald Reagan!
Today I’m not going to focus on entertainers
like Trump – we should be more interested in the system, and the society that
elects the Donald Trumps of this world to be their figurehead.
And more importantly what we should be doing
about this in response to this dire situation.
Yes, Trump was elected on a wave of hideous
politics – anti immigration, anti Muslim, racism, misogyny. You name it, he
supported it.
But we shouldn’t focus narrowly on the man or
any one of his outrageous views – like his Islamophobia.
It’s the wider system that has built this,
endorsed this, voted for it. The failing ideology of capitalism.
I want to cover three main points.
- The danger and completely inappropriate system of majority voting ruling – this notion of democracy.
- How the neo-liberal capitalist system is not serving the people – only the ruling elites and the corporate heads.
- The complete failure of the system to solve the issue of racism, misogyny, xenophobia – all the matters that Trump could use and build his support base upon.
And it is our responsibility to present the
real Islamic alternative. This society is crying out for our solutions and we
are failing to present them.
THE USE OF POPULISM
Trump won power by exploiting racial tensions
and demonising Muslims, and giving people a false hope that he will take on the
Washington establishment to solve their problems. Despite his slogans about
being an outsider, we see now that he is appointing well-connected politicians,
influential bankers, and lobbyists as part of his new administration. In
reality, he is part of the same elite as Hillary Clinton, and like her sees his
campaign promises as a route to power, not a binding commitment. One analyst
worked out that he lied 494 times in the run up to the election. He would say
anything to garner votes. He said what the people wanted to hear, but his lack
of honesty is really telling. As the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ once said:
“There will come to the people years of
treachery (deceptions), when the liar will be regarded as honest, and the
honest man will be regarded as a liar; the traitor will be regarded as
faithful, and the faithful man will be regarded as a traitor; and the
Ruwaibidhah will decide matters.” It was said ‘Who are the Ruwaibidhah?’ The
Prophet replied: “Shallow and worthless men who will speak about the affairs of
the people.”
(Narrated by Ibnu Majah)
In the UK, the Brexiteers claimed they would
make £350 million per week available to the NHS by exiting the EU, and gave
people confidence that the process would be straightforward and simple.
Anti-immigration rhetoric also dominated. With the exit strategy now
floundering in the courts and political factions angling for position, a
leading charity reports that a quarter of all children in the UK are living in
poverty, and 1 in 5 parents are regularly missing meals in order to feed their
kids.
In both the Brexit vote, and now the US
elections, we have seen deceptive slogans used to exploit this popular anger
and deliver shocks at the ballot box. These elections demonstrate the fallacy
of the secular liberal system, where man is the source of legislation – despite
his limited knowledge, and capacity to be swayed by his emotions. Those with
the right level of power and influence have used the media to trick the people,
and then use the legislative process to make the system suit their own
interests. The media and pollsters always side with the established order.
While Trump was not the first choice, as the second figure he was good enough
and the masses voting for him will have the same disappointment they now feel
over the “change you can believe in”, Obama – who didn’t change anything.
BIG POWER INTERESTS DOMINATE
The vote for Trump in many ways was a vote of
desperation. It was not difficult to link Clinton to the key power brokers –
Wall St Bankers that paid her millions in speaking engagements, or large
corporations that feathered her Clinton Foundation with “donations”. The public
see the corruption, despite the medias best efforts to downplay or ignore it,
and want change.
Trump the ultimate pragmatist will perpetuate
the current system with little change. He will be in his element pontificating
around the White house. It’s really all about a system that neglects the masses
and favours the elites.
A 2014 Princeton study of 1,779 public policies enacted between
1982 and 2001 found that the rich were successful in blocking policies they didn’t
like 82% of the time and were able to pass the laws they liked 45% of the time.
In contrast, the “average citizens and mass-based interest groups have
little or no independent influence.” Trump will bring no change to the
Presidential, Congress or Senate system of checks and balances that the
founding fathers put in place to protect their wealth interests. He is now in
the centre of this.
This provides a key opportunity for
enlightened politicians to put real alternatives. Policies weren’t debated
during the election. Clinton listed many which were slight variations on the
Democratic theme, and Trump had few other than headline grabbing statements
that were racist and populist in tone. Muslims need to step up, not sit worried
about what Trump will or won’t do.
The chief cause of the economic instability
and poverty the world has witnessed in recent years stems from the Capitalist
financial system. The huge influence of the banking institutions creates a boom
and bust cycle where massive investments and speculation are funnelled into
different industries, only to be withdrawn once short-term profits are gained.
Interest based banking and loans encourage indebtedness, but this exposes the
economy to collapse and contraction following a loss of market confidence.
In contrast, in the Islamic system, financial
investments must stem from legitimate sources, with sharing of risk between
capital partners and entrepreneurs. This leads to stable growth, and enables
wealth creation rather than wealth concentration.
In the Capitalist system, democracy means
that with short notice, parliaments and government have the power to change
legislation regardless of what is permitted or prohibited. As a result, major
enterprises and wealthy factions in society spend huge amounts in order to
influence the political process and protect their business interests – so the views
of ordinary people are usually ignored. Islam categorically forbids such a
relationship between the rulers and business interests. And the Shariah is
independent of interest and lobby groups that are constantly brokering change
in their interest against the people. So the election of a new ruler without
addressing the system is meaningless.
WHAT HAVE THESE SOCIETIES BECOME
The level of popular support for the likes of
Trump or Farage in the UK is a sad reflection not only of where the society is
but where it is heading. Despite supposed decades of progress racial tensions
against the black community remain strong throughout the US. The chattering
classes were shocked by the success of Trump and UKIP and the rise of the far
right in Europe, but fail to notice that the system they all endorse is prone
to such populism when the underlying problems were never solved.
In a similar manner, the Shariah did not
leave man to make subjective judgements on the rights and responsibilities of
different racial and religious groups. In Capitalist societies such as Britain,
immigrants were welcomed in order to fulfil the labour shortage in key sectors
like healthcare, retail and construction. When the economy started to
experience instability due to the turbulent financial markets, the media and
government circles started to label immigrants as a threat and a drain on
national resources. They want to turn the immigrant tap on or off at will based
purely in economic reasons. They fundamentally lack confidence in their system
to support increased immigration, and hence confidence that society will grow
not only economically but also socially. Immigration has become a convenient
punching bag to blame upon the failings of the system and its moribund economy.
Through the implementation of Islam, the
Khilafah State will prohibit oppression of non-Muslims, and it will not allow a
person’s race to determine the implementation of the law. The Messenger of
Allah ﷺ said:
“Indeed whoever oppressed a Mu’ahid
(non-Muslim migrant), or degraded him, or overburdened him, or took something
from him forcefully, then I am in dispute with him (the oppressor) on the Day
of Judgement” [Sunan Abi Dawood, narrated by Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri, radhiya
Allahu ‘anhu].
WHERE DO WE MOVE FROM HERE
As I said earlier in this darkness there is
an opportunity that we must accept. Democracy will dominate as long as the
people mistakenly think they are the decision makers – other than the blunt
instrument of voting for one chosen figurehead or another, they are not. The
establishment figures make the decisions, make them in their interest and back
it up with a compliant media. Trump is a plan B, but little different from plan
A.
The soaring inequity between the wealthy and
poor is not changing. The globalist approach designed to extract maximum wealth
to the globalists continues unabated. We are all victims of this system, except
certain interest groups that dominate the capitalist order. With the anti
politics sentiments growing we need to show that it is the nature of the system
that must be changed and not just a figurehead.
وَمَآ
أَرۡسَلۡنَـٰكَ إِلَّا رَحۡمَةً۬ لِّلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ
We have sent you (Muhammad)
for no other reason but to be a mercy
for the universe. {QS Al-Anbiya (21):107}
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