1 - 7 November 2001
Issue No.558
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 1 - 7 November 2001 Issue No.558 |
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Double-thinking, double-speak
Mustafa El-Feqi* warns against a return to obscurantism
We tend to be critical of the double standards that shape US policies worldwide, but especially in the Arab-Israeli conflict. After 11 September, however, many felt it was not the time for such criticism: Americans had been hurt, and the outpouring of genuine sympathy from Arabs and Muslims everywhere was sincere.
At the official level, too, all Arab states condemned the terrorist attacks. After a few days, when rational thought had become possible once more, some of the US's friends suggested that anti-American attitudes in certain areas were linked to the injustice of American policies in the Middle East for the past three or four decades. Legitimate nationalist struggle against foreign occupation is one thing; terrorism that has no legitimacy -- nor, indeed, a recognised ultimate goal -- quite another.
President Mubarak, for example, noted that we would not be able to fight terrorism unless the Americans came up with a fair deal that would bring about progress toward a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Very diverse reactions met his statement. Some were wise and objective, recognising the courage and honesty inherent in this advice. President Mubarak, whose country leads the Arab world, said that without a comprehensive and just peace, new generations of terrorists will spring up to finish their predecessors' task.
What surprises me now, when I reflect on events since 11 September, is that double standards are not restricted to policies: they also extend to thoughts. America must shoulder the responsibilities of leadership. It cannot afford to let bias guide it, nor to withdraw from the conflicts that lacerate the world today. We accept globalisation as the philosophy shaping our world's future, regardless of the harm it will cause the South. Economically, globalisation operates through free trade and open borders. Politically, it entails the superpower's right to interfere in the domestic politics of another state under slogans like protecting human rights or democracy. The principle of state sovereignty has been respected in the past few centuries, but intervention in the name of international law has also imposed itself -- witness Iraq and Kosovo. The third and most important element of globalisation is its cultural dimension: the influence of Western civilisation, which has invaded the minds of new generations worldwide, sometimes even against their national identity and patriotic spirit.
We have accepted globalisation in that sense too, and even started to adapt our ways of living and thinking accordingly. We were shocked to discover that the same cannot be said of the West, where the clash of civilisations theory still holds sway, and some dream of a confrontation between Islam and the West.
Confrontation of this sort is an illusion, of course. Arab-Islamic civilisation lived in peace with Western Christian civilisation for centuries. The concept of civilisation is based on principles of international cooperation, human solidarity and the exchange of values and ideas. In other words, the West seeks to impose two mutually exclusive facts. Will the world be ruled by globalisation, or the clash of civilisations? Our hearts support the former, and our minds oppose the latter.
In this world, we need to think objectively and fairly regardless of our differences. We are not the same, but we cannot join Mr Berlusconi in pretending that some of us are better than others. Historically, a continuous process of give and take has brought different civilisations into contact. Ancient Egyptian civilisation gave birth to many others. The Greeks absorbed Pharaonic culture; the Arabs and Muslims integrated and developed the Greek heritage. Their culture in turn reached Europe through Andalusia and Sicily. Even the Crusades generated another form of dialogue between Arab Muslims and European Christians. Everyone contributed to the European Renaissance.
Regressing to mediaeval thinking can only bring about a catastrophe. We must stop attaching stereotypes to colours, religions and nations. Muslims, Christians, Jews and Buddhists can be terrorists; that privilege is not restricted to one people.
If we adhere to prejudice, we will be returning to the Dark Ages. Then we should not be surprised if mosques are burned, churches attacked or synagogues destroyed. We need to create a different world, where all can live in peace, stability and prosperity.
* The writer is former first assistant to the foreign minister and currently deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the People's Assembly.
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