The Linux Extremist

I have a book which contains cartoons from American presidential campaigns; among the most memorable is one from the 1884 contest which was between Grover Cleveland, a Democrat and James G. Blaine, a Republican. The cartoon shows Cleveland and Blaine with their running mates sitting in a pub and drinking beer. The legend above this scene reads, “We may differ in politics…but we agree on that.”

“That” at the time was Prohibition, a movement which was just gaining strength. Both Blaine and Cleveland were against it. This display of agreement was rather extraordinary, given the context. In 1884, one was either a Republican or a Democrat, and people would refuse to do business with each other on the basis of their party affiliation. It was less than 20 years after the American Civil War had ended, and to Republicans, the word “Democrat” was synonymous with “traitor” and to Southern Democrats, the word “Republican” was equivalent to “carpetbagger”. The 1884 campaign was particularly bloody; scurrilous allegations were made about Cleveland fathering an illegitimate child, similar smears were made about Blaine being corrupt. Politics in the United States has never been quite so polarised before or since; yet all bitterness aside, the leaders of both parties said “no” to going dry. It was a rare and shining moment of mental clarity during a particularly fetid political season.

It’s sometimes difficult to discern these moments of mental clarity nowadays. Watching the news from the Middle East is depressing because there is apparently so little of it to go around; war, chaos and violence have been a way of life there for as long as recorded history. And yet, weirdly enough, there is one relatively new way in which both sides in the Middle East agree; Linux usage in both Israel and the Islamic world is on the rise.

It’s a minor, cold comfort to be sure. It’s unlikely that there will be protestors on the streets of Damascus and Jerusalem carrying banners saying, “Make code, not war”. However, though they differ in politics, both sides agree on that.

A quick investigation of how the open source movement is proliferating on the web is an eye opener. I typed “Israel Linux” into Google, and found a very large, active Linux community, the Israeli Group of Linux Users (IGLU). Typing “Arab Linux” yields results which are just as revealing - the Arab Eyes project is working to make Linux more compatible with their language, and there is an active community site entitled Linux Arabia. Similarly, the Iranians are working on variants of Linux that work well with Farsi.

This is not to say that all these programmers intend to use Linux for the same reasons; they may agree on Open Source, but they differ in politics. There is no doubt that terrorists communicate through the use of Open Source technologies. The Iranian government may have some anti-Western motive in developing their own variant of Linux. However, in a strange sort of way, this is progress.

The Roman / Jewish historian Josephus’ writings indicate that in ancient times, the peoples of the Middle East could only agree with the point of a Roman sword in their backs. It used to be that the only basis for accord between these bitter enemies was recognition of the Red Cross and even then, the Red Cross had to be relabelled the Red Crescent in the Islamic world. Still, it’s easy to concur that one would like a medic when the bombs start falling. The desire for better computing appears to be the second area of mutual understanding. They differ in politics but agree that Windows isn’t the way to go. Two points of agreement in this troubled region in less than 200 years is utterly amazing.

This minor development should not blind us to the blood that is being spilled in the Middle East; generally speaking, it’s as bad as it ever was. Based on present conditions, it will likely be another century before a 3rd point of agreement is reached. But perhaps this is indicative of a small ray of enlightenment penetrating the gloom. As insane as the wars of the Middle East may be, at least the people there are not mad enough to continue to embrace Microsoft.

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