I got this letter in my inbox from the folks at CREDO–a sort of political action group funded by the long distance telephone company, Working Assets. For the most part, I agree with the email, and encourage you to click over and sign the petition.
I have one small nitpick, however. Ok–I know it sounds cool and everything–but does the Texas Board of Education *really* have to be called the Taliban?
If you thought that decisions made by the Texas State Board of Education don’t affect you, think again.
Led by far-right ideologues, the Texas SBOE recently gave preliminary approval to a plan that would radically change what children across the country learn in history class.
The ultra-conservative majority on the board (none of whom are experts in any academic discipline and many of whom are explicitly anti-science) took the curricula proposed by teachers and made over a hundred changes to “correct” the perceived left-wing bias.
But it gets worse. Since Texas is one of the largest textbook markets in the country, material written to cater to the Texas curricula will find its way into textbooks across the country unless textbook publishers take a stand.
We can’t allow a small group of extreme ideologues on the Texas State Board of Education to re-write history. Click here to tell textbook publishers to stand up to the Texas Taliban.
Children who use textbooks conforming to the new standards will not learn anything about the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson or his thoughts on the separation of church and state. When they learn about the Civil War, they’ll have to study Jefferson Davis’ inaugural address alongside Abraham Lincoln’s. And when they study the civil rights movement they’ll have to learn about the “unintended consequences” of Great Society programs, affirmative action and Title IX. Oh — and Joe McCarthy was right all along no matter what historians actually say about it.
It’s outrageous. Education will fail if we can’t teach our children history. We can’t let these far-right ideologues co-opt our educational system.
Click here to tell the textbook publishers: Don’t let the Texas Taliban rewrite history.
Thank you for standing up for the American educational system.
LiAnna Davis, Campaign Manager
Now, let’s be clear. I’m not defending the Taliban OR the Texas School Board. So, VLibertarians (aka VL readers who are libertarians)? Please put your swords away, nothing to fight with here.
What I would like us all to consider, however, is how many times organizing in the US really centers on our fear of “becoming” a particular “other.” If we’re not scared of becoming the Taliban, we all have to donate tons of money to X organization so that we don’t become socialists. Or Nazis. Or Teh Gays. The left in particular, is terrified of become the Taliban or being ruled by the Taliban (check out your average mainstream feminist organization sometime.). We could talk for hours about the effects of creating a perpetual ‘other’ in our organizing (what will we organize against when there’s no other left to organize against? for starters…) but for now, I just want to say that in the interest of recognizing root causes of issues–using the logic that a certain group of Arab men are the worst of all the worst and now a certain group of white men are ‘becoming Arab’ does very little to point to the root causes of the problems in the US for those who are racialized by white supremacy. In other words, the problem is not that white men in the US are “becoming Arab,” but that *white supremacy* can not be changed or reasoned with through the process of reform.
That is, we’re going to keep having these problems until we accurately understand the problem of white supremacy–and then as communities, as citizens, as perpetual border crossers, as humans–decide what the hell we’re going to do to end white supremacy, rather than negotiate with it.
I know that explaining white supremacy and advocating for community responses is not as concise and catchy as “The Texas Taliban.” But short term solutions have rarely done anybody any good for very long.
Maybe it’s something to consider.
Girl I got this in my inbox too and had it flagged. It’s like the book by Markos Moulitsas called American Taliban. Really? Then he wonders why so many of us bloggers don’t want to deal with him.
Just a suggestion for accuracy sake: Taliban are not arab; they are an amalgamation of Pashtu and several other ethnicities in Pakistan.
thank you, La Macha!
oh, and Bryan, if you’re going to take the trouble to correct folk, then at least be correct yourself. Yes, the Taliban are an amalgamation of Pashtu etc, but they are predominantly funded by Arabian supporters and have always had “outsider” Arab manpower as well. And they really pretty much started out in Afghanistan, as fighters against Russia, and then also moved into Pakistan.
@aamina,
“Arab men are the worst of all the worst and now a certain group of white men are ‘becoming Arab’ does very”
You admitted that the Taliban were not Arab, but funded by Arabs. I don’t see the need to correct myself.
Also, aaminah:
It is not clear that the Taliban’s funding comes predominately from Arab funding. A useful article on Talkiban funding is this:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/taliban/funding-the-pakistani-taliban
Here a few choice excerpts:
“chunk of the Afghan drug money still makes its way to Pakistani Taliban hands — to the tune of $200 million dollars a year,”
“after poppy, tobacco is probably the biggest revenue generator,” for the Taliban, said Ikram Sehgal, a former major-general in the Pakistan army who now runs one of the largest private security firms in the country.
“Plus, officials constantly identify new Taliban revenue streams. The environmental protection agencies in Pakistan are blaming the “timber mafia” — illegal loggers — for funding the militancy.”
“Call it protection money, call it extortion, or, as the Taliban themselves prefer to term it, “spoils of war,” the fact remains that international donors, primarily the United States, are to a large extent financing their own enemy.”
Yes, persian gulf(arab) states fund the Taliban substantially, but it is far from certain how much. Regardless, the fact remains that the Taliban are not Arab.
Bryan, how about if you just don’t talk about things you don’t know anything about? How about if you stop using your male privilege to constantly correct the women of this fine site? How about you just shut up, as a matter of fact. You contribute nothing useful and you misstate facts.
I support the use of the term Taliban when referring to anyone who wants to force their religious views on others around them. The Taliban take twisted scripture and use it to control others much like conservatives take bible scripture and twist it to control others. It’s a shame I spent the majority of my time in the military supporting a war against the Taliban only to get out, move back to Texas, and find myself still fighting people like the SBOE that are no different than the Taliban.
It’s not about race and scaring people into thinking that they’re acting Arab. It’s ideology and forcing that ideology on others.
Aaminah:
Please point to me where I misstated facts.
And please point to me where I have commented on things that I know nothing about.
Also, most of my comments are not of the “correcting” nature.