9 - 15 May 2002
Issue No.585
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 9 - 15 May 2002 Issue No.585 |
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More equal than others
Arab-Western dialogue may continue, but there is always something missing, writes Gamil Mattar*
I have taken part in many dialogues between Arabs and Americans and invariably emerge with the feeling that something is missing. At first I thought it must be a language problem: when two sides engage in conversation, one in its mother tongue, one not, discrepancies occur. Even when interpreters are employed something is lost. Then I thought it might be an inadequate knowledge between the sides of the other's cultural sensibilities. I even suspected that the presence of cameras and tape recorders had something to do with the problem. Conversation in the presence of recording equipment can easily turn to speechmaking. Now, I don't think any of the above is the real problem.
Attending the Arab Media Summit in Dubai I again experienced this feeling of something missing. The event was impeccably organised. The gathering had its share of notable speakers, leading political and media figures from both sides. And then it all became clear to me. Many of the American speakers were less interested in dialogue than in educating, reproaching, even intimidating their Arab counterparts.
This was not the first time. In almost every discussion I have attended I realised that the Americans had behaved as if their aim was to bring their Arab interlocutors to admit their inadequacies, concede their errors and mend their ways. The Arabs, the Americans maintain, fail to understand US politics. The Arabs do not reach out to American public opinion, have not formed pressure groups to defend their interests. The Arabs, Americans claim, fail to understand how their cause is hurt by attacks mounted against Israeli civilians. An American politician from Arab origins reiterated these charges in the Dubai gathering. The fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers of 11 September were Saudis was oft repeated as a sign of Arab laxity in the fight against extremist terror. The Arabs, the Americans say, condone anti-Zionist and anti-Western sentiments, a matter that encourages terror attacks against the US and Israel.
Our schools are bad; our media is pitiable; our curricula strewn with extremism and fanaticism. We have no transparency, no democracy to speak of, and we blame America for the despotism of our own governments which, meanwhile, stoke the embers of hatred against the West to divert attention from their own inefficiency and corruption. We condone Arab regimes that manufacture and stockpile weapons of mass destruction. Our charitable donations go to terrorist causes. This is a brief, if not exhaustive, list of American grievances. Some go as far as to suggest that Sharon is doing what the Arabs, among others, should do -- namely, slay terrorists before they have the chance to act. A key American media figure offered a curious explanation of the Palestinian Intifada. She said that the Intifada, like other instances of Arab "terror," is the way Arab men compensate for their sexual inadequacies.
Western, particularly American, politicians and intellectuals randomly gather anecdotes from Arab and Muslim societies and generalise them into a hodgepodge of erroneous opinion. Then they go to dialogues to harangue us, provoking Arab interlocutors into emotional and unhelpful responses.
In one instance, a foreign interlocutor began elaborating on Islam's concept of martyrdom and jihad. His views were so uninformed that I had hoped they would not be dignified with an answer. Naturally, this did not happen. More than one Arab speaker gave a fiery response and much valuable time was wasted. This incident did not happen in Dubai, but at an earlier gathering, but it does exemplify the mood dominant at such gatherings. In Dubai a similar situation developed when a prominent American Jewish writer began trashing the Arabs for their lack of understanding of globalisation, the subtleties of US politics, and the greatness of Israel's achievements.
You may have guessed by now what I think is missing in such dialogues. The partners fail to act as equals, as people who may differ in background and opinion but are willing to conduct the dialogue as peers, as individuals who need to make sense of their differences. The Arabs, obviously, are no teconomic or military match for the West but this is hardly the point. Dialogue, by definition, is an attempt by equals to work out problems. Haranguing and lecturing undermines that.
There are two common Arab reactions to such discussions. Many Arab interlocutors tend to hold on to their views, not yielding an inch to Western policies and claims. Other Arab interlocutors adopt, almost unquestioningly, the Western line of reproach. Such interlocutors tend to focus their ire on their own societies, at the faults of their nations and leaders, and offer the familiar Western solutions -- globalisation and the Arab adoption of Western values.
Thankfully a third response is emerging. A few Arab interlocutors are attempting to persuade the West, particularly the Americans, of the benefits of equal dialogue. They point out that many of the international crises we face are not the creation of Arabs. The West has been a partner -- perhaps too dominant -- of the Arabs for many years now. In particular the West has an obvious responsibility towards the Arab- Israeli conflict and the war against terror. The US, for one, must take a fair share of the blame for its Middle East policy. Unless Washington does something to correct its errors of judgement, its multi- phased war against terror will fail. America wants to impose its way of life on other nations, and expects to be loved in return. Occasionally it bombs others to get them to change their heart. Things do not work this way.
The US, I told the Dubai gathering, wasted a major opportunity to address its policy mistakes. Minutes after the terrible attacks of 11 September the American public asked: Why do they hate us? Hours later, the US government had decided to ignore the question and the answers being offered. I believe that the question must once again be raised. Perhaps, this time, the Americans should ask: What do they advise us to do? We have much to say, and they have much to listen to.
* The writer is director of the Arab Centre for Development and Futuristic Research.
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