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The Not So Clear Clash of Civilizations
Aref Assaf
Throughout the so-called "war on terror," the notion of a "clash of
civilization" between Islam and the West has usually been dismissed as
politically incorrect and intellectually wrongheaded. Instead, the most common
interpretation has been that the world has entered a new era characterized by
conflict "within" a particular civilization, namely Islam, with fundamentalist
Muslims as much at war against moderates as against the West.
The strategic conclusion derived from such an analysis was clear, ambitious, and
easily summarized: democratization. If the absence of democracy in the Islamic
world was the problem, bringing democracy to the "Greater Middle-East" would be
the solution, and it was the historical duty of the United States, as the most
powerful and moral nation, to bring about that necessary change. The status quo
was untenable.
Implementing democracy, with or without regime change, was the only alternative
to chaos and the rise of fundamentalism.
Multiple layers of conflict
Today, Iraq may be on the verge of civil war between Shiites and Sunnis. Iran
under a new and more radical president is moving irresistibly towards possessing
a nuclear capacity. A free electoral process brought Hamas to power in
Palestine, and the unfortunate episode of the Danish newspaper cartoons
illustrated the almost combustible nature of relations between Islam and the
West.
All of these developments are paving the way to new interpretations. Rather than
a "clash of civilizations," we might instead be faced by multiple layers of
conflict, which interact with each other in ways that increase global
instability.
Indeed, it appears that the world is witnessing a triple conflict. There is a
clash within Islam, which, if the violence in Iraq spreads to neighboring
countries, risks causing regional destabilization. There is also a clash that is
best described not as being between Islam and the West, but between the
secularized world and a growing religious one. At an even deeper and atavistic
level, there is an emotional clash between a culture of fear and a culture of
humiliation.
It would be a gross oversimplification to speak, as some are doing, of a clash
between civilization and barbarism. In reality, we are confronted with a
widening divide over the role of religion, which runs between the West (with the
US being a complicated exception) and much of the rest of the world (the most
notable exception being China), but particularly the Islamic world.
The West's religious past
The divide reflects how religion defines an individual's identity within a
society. At a time when religion is becoming increasingly important elsewhere,
Most of Europeans and to al lesser extent Americans, have largely
forgotten their (violent and intolerant) religious past, and they have
difficulty understanding the role that religion can play in other peoples' daily
lives.
In some ways, "they" are our own buried past and, with a combination of
ignorance, prejudice, and, above all, fear, "we" are afraid that "they" could
define our future. We live in a secular world, where free speech can easily turn
into insensitive and irresponsible mockery, while others see religion as their
supreme goal, if not their last hope. They have tried everything, from
nationalism to regionalism, from communism to capitalism. Since everything has
failed, why not give God a chance?
Globalization may not have created these layers of conflicts, but it has
accelerated them by making the differences more visible and palpable. In our
globalized age, we have lost the privilege – and, paradoxically, the virtue – of
ignorance. We all see how others feel and react, but without the minimal
historical and cultural tools necessary to decipher those reactions.
Globalization has paved the way to a world dominated by the dictatorship of
emotions – and of ignorance.
"The Israel-Palestine conflict has become an obsession"
This clash of emotions is exacerbated in the case of Islam. In the Arab world,
in particular, Islam is dominated by a culture of humiliation felt by the people
and nations that consider themselves the main losers, the worst victims, of a
new and unjust international system. From that standpoint, the Israel-Palestine
conflict is exemplary. It has become an obsession.
It is not so much that Arabs and Muslims really care about the Palestinians. On
the contrary, the Islamic world left the Palestinians without real support for
decades. In reality, for them the conflict has come to symbolize the
anachronistic perpetuation of an unfair colonial order, to represent their
political malaise, and to embody the perceived impossibility of their being
masters of their destiny.
In the eyes of the Arabs (and some other Muslims), Israel's strength and
resilience is a direct consequence of their own weakness, divisions, and
corruption. The majority of Arabs may not support al-Qaeda, but they do not
oppose it with all their heart. Instead, there is the temptation to regard Osama
bin Laden as a type of violent Robin Hood, whose actions, while impossible to
condone officially, have helped them to recover a sense of Arab pride and
dignity.
Here, perhaps, is the real clash of civilizations: the emotional conflict
between the European culture of fear and the Muslim, particularly Arab, culture
of humiliation. It would be dangerous to underestimate the depth of so wide an
emotional divide, and to recognize its existence is the first step to overcoming
it. But that will be difficult, for transcending the emotional clash of
civilizations presupposes an opening to the "other" that neither side may yet be
ready to undertake.
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The autumn/winter edition of
Banipal Magazine is dedicated to the
memory of Palestinian poet Mahmoud
Darwish.
Click here for more... 
