Jordanian Citizenship Revoked: The Human Toll Of Politics
Words By: Mohanned
“Jordan is playing politics with the basic rights of thousands of its citizens, Officials are denying entire families the ability to lead normal lives with the sense of security that most citizens of a country take for granted.”
[source]
Those people are human. Politicians sometimes tend to forget that and speak of them as mere numbers. They view people and their livelihoods as a way or a tool to send a message. For them, those people are just another card in their deck of political playing cards.
In reality, two thousand seven hundred and thirty two Jordanians had their nationality stripped between 2004-2008. Their lives are irrelevant because their feelings don’t serve the bigger agenda. Their future? Well, it’s theirs and theirs alone. So who cares? Why should we care? Why should the government care if we, the people, didn’t care?
Enter: empathy deficiency disorder.
What many of us tend to forget is that relativity and ratios dehumanize us. They make numbers look “less” real than they actually are. We become desensitized. We take injustice as a fact of life. For some of us, injustice inflicted on others is, well, tough luck! Life is unfair. True. But what makes it unfair?
Luck? I believe not.
Fate? Don’t think so.
We do.
What if twenty-some women lost their lives each year for “honor”? Does it really matter? The lives of twenty women in a nation of six million are negligible. They are not a priority. They don’t touch and affect enough lives. Our lives.
What makes a life negligible? What makes a human experience less than relevant? What can make a child’s dreams and hopes for the future more relevant to us? How can we care again? How can we overcome this empathy deficiency disorder?
Look beyond the numbers. Try to see the suffering. Try to understand how others feel.
Be them.
So yes, the Jordanian government might call it a “correction”. They might even paint it with the “protecting your national identity” brush.
You don’t solve problems by creating problems. You don’t achieve justice by inflicting injustice on others. You are not protecting by adding suffering. What some might call an inconvenience is a human being feeling injustice. A human being treated unfairly. A human being paying the price for something he/she didn’t do.
So to the Jordanian government: you are making these people’s lives irrelevant. Shame on you and shame on those of us who rationalize injustice and suffering.
- The sixty page report can be found here.
- Related Post: Jordan’s Slow Discrimination
mate did you hear that all of the Palestinians holding the Jordanian national number and have been taken from them is because that they sold their lands in al quds al sharqeyeh to the jews ,,,,, if you want to sell your lands and come to jordanian dont sell them to the jews.
And tell abbas to stop calling the king and telling him the number of Palestinians have decreased send me some back !!!!!!
everything i said can be found on the dirty game called politics..
I think you are the most heypocryt orgonization I ever seen. I am a palestainina and I live in Jordan and I dont mind if Jordan take the citizenship from .We dont belong in Jordan , we need our home back
We belong in palestine and we will get it sooner or later
I am a Palestinian and I am proud to say that I have a Jordanian citizenship and we live in Jordan a very kind life not because of the king but because we are Muslims although the king keeps spreading the fear between the two people (Jordanians and Palestinians )through playing the tune of the “Alwatan Albadeel” . It is this royal family who betrayed the Muslims first and last and are still doing so;” The great Arab revolution was a revolution against Muslims for the sake of England and then they handed Palestine to the Jews and England created them to protect the so called Israel . The betrayed both Jordanians and Palestinians at the same time, he is playing both people.. This how the Brits think and function and this guy is not loyal to any party but his masters in England
Palestine belongs to the Muslims fist and last and no matter how long this welfare state stays in it, Islam mandates Muslims to bring it back and they will , it is just a matter of time and those who can look at the world politics from the top can see that fact.
We are all Muslims and no decent Muslim will except to exchange a Muslim land for another Muslim land .Jordan for Muslims and so is Palestine.
Muslims need to wake up from the deep sleep and start thinking based on Islam, Islam that Muslims and none Muslims are suffering because it is a absent from the international arena… Islam that was sent as mercy to humanity and not the one that is fabricated by the enemies of Islam…
What are you trying to say please ? Jordan for Muslims and no Muslim will change Jordan for palestaine or Palestine for Jordan , they are both Muslim lands and anyone spreading otherwise is a paid or ignorant person
I am saying that Jordans make up is not like Algerias or Iraq or Lebanons, the Jordanians and Palestinians are not going to raise arms against each other. Talk of civil war is nonsense .