Hysteria Rules the Skies

Iman Kurdi, Arab News

This weekend I am taking a flight from the south of France back to London. Since I do not want to be taken off the flight — or even worse “removed” from the flight as the current terminology goes as if the passengers were some kind of stain or obstruction — for the new crime of traveling while Asian, or the related crimes of traveling while Arab or Muslim, I am wondering what precautions I should take.

British Airways has kindly sent me an e-mail detailing what I am and what I am not allowed to carry in my carry-on luggage. I shall follow their instructions to the letter. My handbag will be free of the new weapons of mass destruction: Bottles of water, tubs of hand cream or tubes of toothpaste for me. And I shall diligently present myself at the security points where no doubt I shall be picked for a “random” check, with both my physical self and my earthly goods thoroughly checked and cleared.

But obeying the law is not enough, for all it takes is to appear foreign to be guilty of this new crime. I must appear to be a regular holidaymaker, I must not stand out as different. So I think I may wear flip-flops on my feet, though given the weather conditions in London I fear for my health.

And perhaps I shall buy myself some shorts for the occasion. And I must not at any cost wear a jumper or a jacket: It may be sensible attire for the rather cool and wet weather in London but it is not what the typical British holidaymaker wears. Oh what the heck, perhaps I should get myself a copy of the Daily Mail and sit in the sun at noon on the day of my departure; perhaps then I can convince my fellow passengers that I am one of them.

I almost forgot, I must make sure I don’t look at my watch whilst I am waiting for my flight — apparently that is part of “behaving suspiciously” — nor must I speak Arabic or any other non-European language. Maybe I’ll leave my watch at home, save myself from the temptation of checking the time, and whilst I’m at it, maybe I’ll leave my mobile phone at home too, in case I should be tempted to fiddle with it during the flight and alarm my fellow passengers. Maybe that will be enough. Or will it?

We have recently witnessed a series of incidents where passengers have been asked to leave a flight or where flights have been diverted with fighter jets escorting them simply because Asian-looking passengers aroused suspicion. What is more, the grounds for this suspicion have been at best flimsy and at worse purely racial without even the pretence of anything more substantial. What is of even more concern is that the suspicions of fellow passengers have been enough to warrant airlines ordering passengers off a flight.

On Aug. 10, Amar Ashraf, a British citizen, was asked to leave a Continental Airlines flight from Manchester to Newark. An airline pilot with one of Continental’s partner airlines, Ashraf was traveling as a standby passenger.

He was issued with a boarding pass, had taken his seat in business class and the aircraft doors had closed when lo and behold, he was tapped on the shoulder and asked to leave.

The doors were reopened and he took the lonely walk of humiliation down the steps and onto the tarmac to be greeted by armed police. What was his crime? His Muslim name aroused suspicion. Continental told him that no stand-by passengers were allowed to fly that day and yet no other standby passengers were taken off the flight. Two days later Ashraf bought a ticket on Virgin Atlantic and flew back to the US without any trouble.

On Aug. 16, two Muslim men of Asian appearance were taken off a Monarch Airlines flight from Malaga to Manchester because other passengers were convinced the men were terrorists and refused to fly with them.

What was their crime? They wore heavy clothing when all the other passengers were dressed in flip-flops and shorts. They also looked at their watches a little too often and spoke a language that other passengers took to be Arabic. That was enough for Monarch Airlines to take them off the flight. They were questioning by police, released and traveled home a few days later.

Exactly a week later, a North-West airlines flight from Amsterdam bound for Bombay was diverted mid-flight and escorted back by two Dutch fighter jets because a group of passengers of Asian appearance had aroused the suspicion of the air marshal. What was their crime? They fiddled with their mobile phones. Twelve passengers were arrested on arrival. They have all been released without charge.

What strikes me the most about these incidents is the muted tone of the condemnation. The Monarch incident is disgraceful. The two Muslim passengers were subjected to an ordeal purely because they appeared different to the rest of the passengers. That is the textbook definition of discrimination. If other passengers didn’t feel safe to travel with them, they were free to make other arrangements.

By giving in to mob rule, Monarch Airlines has set a dangerous precedent.

If we let hysteria rule the skies, it is only a matter of time before we are segregated, with special lines and security checks for people who fit our racial profile, before we are seated separately on planes, grouped together where air marshals and crew can keep us under strict surveillance and out of sight of white-skinned passengers so that they may feel protected from our threat, before we are so traumatized by our criminalization that we avoid traveling altogether — for there is no doubt about it, that is where we are heading unless people come to their senses.

The terrorists are winning. They are meeting their goals one by one: They have created fear and hysteria, they have succeeded in creating a chasm between Muslims and non-Muslims and they are slowly but surely chipping away at the values of liberty, fairness and equality which underpin Western culture.