AMMAN, 27 October 2004 — I fail to think of a region in greater need of self-reflection and internal transformation than the Arab world. Yet it is as if the opposite is true.
This is not another intellectual canter aimed at “exposing” and shaming the culture from which I came. It doesn’t take more than a casual scan of Arabic newspapers or a focused examination of some TV channels to reveal one of the roots of our intellectual anathemas. Indeed, there is very little to be offered, save the self-congratulatory rhetoric, topped by the occasional dues of respect to the ruling elite, followed by an aimless plethora of stories composed from Western news wires about the Arabs and their affairs.
Would it not make more sense to narrate one’s own story, instead of resorting and relying on the objectivity of outside observers, especially when the Arab people are the intended audience? This is a key deficiency and will not disappear with the occasional critique and with wishful thinking. It is certainly a pressing issue. If we do not have a responsible Arab media, with an overriding sense of urgency that will help the average Arab understand, become more engaged and involved in matters that are so rapidly shaping his/her future, then our future is bleak.
If Arab intellectuals are not at all capable of accurately depicting their own culture, people and their correlated narratives, then whatever portrait is sketched of them shall always fall short of honest representation.
Westerners always lump the Arab peoples into one category, mostly negative, that fails to see the cultural uniqueness or divergence of many of its groups. For example, the assumption that Palestinians are only Muslim has allowed Israel to manipulate the traditional dissection of Judeo-Christian cultures vs. that of Muslims, although the religious element in the Arab-Israeli conflict is negligible. Arab intellectuals and their narrative also seem absent from the imaginary civilizational clash as some portray it. The result is Arabs and their collective cultures are being defined and redefined, skewed and tainted to serve an ultimately political agenda of a few. The Arab factor, as represented by its intellectuals, seems either completely absent or consumed with irrelevant scuffles at a time when more than political and economic boundaries of their nations are being aggressively redrawn. The war in Iraq is the obvious example. But what I find truly worrisome about the bloody conflict initiated by the US and Britain is the adjoining discourse initiated in the rest of the Arab world.
It’s tactlessly clear that the US government holds no regard, whatsoever, for the anti-American backlash it is steadily nurturing among the younger generation of Arabs. This is not simply the arrogance of an overconfident empire, it also lacks conventional wisdom. In so far as it has been empirically proven, outrage and the subsequent violence is not a phenomena confined to poor Arab societies, as it was soundly proven in the past. Recent waves of terrorism affiliated with radical Arab groups seemed almost exclusively championed by privileged Arabs, groups never suspected by the US government.
But aside from the obvious imprudence of the US government, one must acknowledge the incredible backlash this conflict has brought upon Arab societies themselves.
In some countries, for example, political desperation has led to cultural and religious extremism, rendering every non-Muslim an enemy, even individuals who happen to be equally rooted Arabs. This was the case in recent slaughters carried out by terrorists in Saudi Arabia.
But Iraq remains the most obvious example where hostage taking has grown into a profitable business. Even sympathetic journalists, elderly men and selfless aid workers are now victims. While the Iraq trend is dangerous, the nearly complete silence on the Arab street and the wariness of the Arab media and intellectuals in tackling this matter speaks volumes. It is either subtle approval or complete disinterest in the problem.
If Arabs truly believe that they have been targeted collectively, why then aren’t they responding collectively? Why aren’t they responding at all? If these questions are not answered then one should not even bother bringing the question of Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, terrorism or reforms to the table in the first place. The inevitable risk of not facing up to these challenges is that outside players, who only understand the languages of exploitation, pre-emption and coercion, will readily rush to fill the vacuum.
