Issue No. 603
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12 - 18 September 2002 Issue No. 603 Heritage |
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Reclaiming history
The victor imparts his own thoughts on the vanquished. This is why, Tarek El-Beshri* argues, we spend much time thinking about 11 September 2001 and forget a more important date
The United States wants to turn the events of 11 September into world history, and particularly into Arab and Islamic history. Washington wants to turn that date into a historic landmark with Arab and Islamic signs. Some of us, unfortunately, are falling into that trap. Some are bringing the "before and after 11 September" argument to our national and regional panels a bit too often.
Allow me to say that 11 September 2001 is an American event that has everything to do with US policy, its context and its actions. The 11 September attacks on major US symbols seemed to the Americans, and even to us, a blow to America's sense of pride, a sense that is based on material and military power alone. This was an event that started on US soil and ended there. US policy, high and mighty and global- reaching, has turned it into a world event. The not-so- discrete message was that America is the master of the world and anything that bothers it should bother the rest of us.
Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the second caliph, used to say: "If a beast were to stumble in the land of Iraq, God will hold Ibn Al-Khattab responsible on judgment day." Now, this is not how the United States sees things. Its position, more likely, would be: "If a beast were to stumble in the land of Texas, everyone in this world is responsible, and the Arabs and Muslims will have hell to pay."
I am not joking. Unfortunately, this is how the logic goes. This is the process of cognitive association that has been thrust into high gear. Let me elaborate. Ariel Sharon's provocative entry into the premises of Al-Aqsa Mosque on 28 September 2000 is not considered an international event, not by US standards. For us, however, it should be at least as important event as 11 September is for the Americans.
Are we aware of this? Perhaps not. Some countries lead and others follow. And those who follow keep their historic perceptions in line with those who lead. The masters would not have it otherwise. They would not want their subjects to think differently, to construe facts in an independent manner. I can recite many historical incidents to support this point, but I don't want to bore you. Just remember this. World history, the one we are most familiar with, is written from a European point of view. It focuses on the fall of the Roman Empire and proceeds to chronicle the Middle Ages, the fall of Constantinople, the Renaissance, and so on. In defining what does matter and what does not, historians create a system of concepts and prejudices. They uphold certain perceptions and dismiss others. In doing so, they affect the way others think of the world and even of themselves.
US policy makers want to export their troubles. In particular, they want to blame them on the Arabs and Muslims. They want us to take the blame and also to help with the solution. As for the blame, remember this. Americans blamed us for the 11 September attacks only hours after they occurred. They did not take their time to ascertain the facts. They did not wait to investigate into the matter. They blamed a certain individual for ordering the attack and his outfit for carrying it out. Then they proceeded to associate the crime not only with the perpetrators, but also with Muslims, all Muslims, and with the tents of Islam.
This was collective punishment in action, and it evolved even before the evidence was fully compiled. This shameful attitude was conducted in total disregard for all norms of civilisation and humanity.
Now, let's look at the solutions the United States is seeking for its foreign policy problems. The United States has used 11 September to justify its post-Cold War domination, to use unrestrained force against other nations, and to subjugate and humiliate other countries on grounds of self- defence. Washington wants the world to believe that US domestic security is now being safeguarded, half a globe away, in the arid mountains of Afghanistan. It wants the world to believe that the entire planet has to comply with the needs of US domestic security.
Interestingly, all the goals that the United States has set to achieve over the past year were in place even before 11 September. The United States is setting up military basis in Central Asia, in Afghanistan, to the south of Russia, to the west of China, and in the vicinity of India, Pakistan, Iran, and Asia's Muslim republics. Does not this remind you of what it did in the Balkans after the conflict with the Serbs, and in the Gulf region after the invasion of Kuwait? America is now busy sending its military personnel as far as Yemen, Georgia, and the Philippines.
My point, to recapitulate, is that 11 September is an American event from beginning to end. US actions following 11 September only underline this fact. So, do we really want to toe the US line and accept the US view of our own reality? Are we not ready yet to reclaim our independence of perception, our autonomy of historic vision.
We are as entitled to our own take on reality as any one else. Early Muslims wrote down their own history, with titles such as history of the Arabs, or chronicles of the Muslims. Why don't we? This last year, our most significant day was 7 October 2001, when the Americans attacked Afghanistan, not 11 September. Over the past two years, our most significant day was 28 September 2000.
What concerns us of 11 September is simply its impact in terms of US policy. Other than that, we should shift our focus to 28 September, the day the Intifada began, the day our resistance started.
* The writer is former deputy-chief justice at the State Council, and the author of numerous works on Egyptian political history and political Islam.
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