Sunday, April 29, 2007
Why is the West Uniting a Muslim Nation?
How many times have you read or heard that Muslims are this or the Islamic world is like ? Countless times in radio, television and on the net. Besides being generalizations that are usually based in no experience (i.e. total fantasies -- What does a loud mouthed radio host know about the Islamic world? Do I hear any of you saying, "Fuck all?") Most of the commentary in the West is driven by ignorance and arrogance. This combination may be actually creating the enemy that commentators are fearing: a united anti-western Islamic nation.
The smarter of the these pundits will point to the concept of the clash of civilizations put forward by Samuel Huntington. The short description version of Huntington's thesis is as follows:
One of the main problem of this approach is that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Muslim dominated world is very heterogeneous. There are deep divisions in this cultural group (Not the least being the divide between Sunni and Shia that most Bush Administration officials still don't understand). In fact one of the only things that unities all members of this religious-ethnic group is attacks upon the group by xenophobic Westerners.
Consider for a moment what may be the most emblematic example of tendency: the French Muslim youth. If you are born in a country to citizens of that country then you should be a full participate in the society of that country. This is most definitely not true of french youth of Muslim decent. They are deeply alienated from french society by a number of cultural and political attacks upon their community. Try to imagine living in a society to into which you were born rejecting you as an outsider, a foreigner. Imagine how that would rot your soul. Are you now surprised when french youth of Muslim decent gather around an identity of being Muslim. If you are thrown into a group against your will, that group will become a voice for the common grievance of rejection.
This is true for all Muslims. By attacking them for being Muslims, we are creating an identity of being oppressed for being Muslim. This identity and the grievance that goes with it becomes a rallying point for the large number of disaffected youth in the Islamic world. The question really becomes what sort of leader is going to use this identity as a base for their rise to power? There is one person already that is trying to do this: Osama bin Laden. In fact his attacks on the West have been in part to cause the West to attack Muslims and build the identity of victims of of an overbearing imperial West.
One of the great things about living in the West is the diversity. It doesn't matter whether it is diversity of thought, diversity of lifestyle, or diversity of religion. Why not then make diversity be one of our tools in this conflict we are facing. Lets stop building Bin Laden's Caliphate and instead start supporting those people who wish to have the autonomy to live their lives as they see fit. Osama's vision is only compelling to those who either wish to see or are forced to see the Muslim world as monolith. Let us not enter this struggle on his terms. Let us reveal the diversity of the Muslim world and show the world how false Bin Laden's vision is.
Two recent examples: here and here.
The smarter of the these pundits will point to the concept of the clash of civilizations put forward by Samuel Huntington. The short description version of Huntington's thesis is as follows:
It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.
One of the main problem of this approach is that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Muslim dominated world is very heterogeneous. There are deep divisions in this cultural group (Not the least being the divide between Sunni and Shia that most Bush Administration officials still don't understand). In fact one of the only things that unities all members of this religious-ethnic group is attacks upon the group by xenophobic Westerners.
Consider for a moment what may be the most emblematic example of tendency: the French Muslim youth. If you are born in a country to citizens of that country then you should be a full participate in the society of that country. This is most definitely not true of french youth of Muslim decent. They are deeply alienated from french society by a number of cultural and political attacks upon their community. Try to imagine living in a society to into which you were born rejecting you as an outsider, a foreigner. Imagine how that would rot your soul. Are you now surprised when french youth of Muslim decent gather around an identity of being Muslim. If you are thrown into a group against your will, that group will become a voice for the common grievance of rejection.
This is true for all Muslims. By attacking them for being Muslims, we are creating an identity of being oppressed for being Muslim. This identity and the grievance that goes with it becomes a rallying point for the large number of disaffected youth in the Islamic world. The question really becomes what sort of leader is going to use this identity as a base for their rise to power? There is one person already that is trying to do this: Osama bin Laden. In fact his attacks on the West have been in part to cause the West to attack Muslims and build the identity of victims of of an overbearing imperial West.
One of the great things about living in the West is the diversity. It doesn't matter whether it is diversity of thought, diversity of lifestyle, or diversity of religion. Why not then make diversity be one of our tools in this conflict we are facing. Lets stop building Bin Laden's Caliphate and instead start supporting those people who wish to have the autonomy to live their lives as they see fit. Osama's vision is only compelling to those who either wish to see or are forced to see the Muslim world as monolith. Let us not enter this struggle on his terms. Let us reveal the diversity of the Muslim world and show the world how false Bin Laden's vision is.
Two recent examples: here and here.
