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America's War On Terrorism
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Adel Darwish: Are Arabs really bitter about the
West, or is it much more complicated?
16 September 2001
The most shocking response to the terrorist attacks on New
York and Washington shown by many in Syria, Egypt and the
Gulf was that America had it coming. We all saw the pictures
of Palestinians and Iraqis dancing in the streets. But just how,
one might ask, could people become so desperate and confused
to the point of losing any basic human feeling, or the
ability to share in the suffering?
The contradictions in the Arabic- speaking nations were in
evidence when Palestinian police were ordered by the PLO
chairman, Yasser Arafat, to disperse the dancing crowds. The
Palestinian leader, who rejects any peace deal that will not
return Jerusalem to the bosom of Islam, went on to pull a very
Western PR stunt when he got a camera crew to show him
donating blood for American hospitals. He may reject American
hegemony, but he also adopts US mass-media techniques when it suits
him. This may be seen as a symbol for a relationship with the West that
is not – as some of the early reporting done in the heat of the moment
might have suggested last week – one of opposition of values and
outlook, but one of intense love and hate.
The first images coming from the Middle East suggested that citizens
of Arabic-speaking countries were either indifferent to,
or actually enjoying, the American suffering. But appearances
are deceptive. The first thing to remember is that many Arab
people have lived in non-democratic states for some time now.
The state-controlled media of these countries have placed
Israel and the West, led by Amreeka, in the same category and
encouraged the masses to abhor both. This has been
especially noticeable since the violence flared again in Israel
in October last year.
Language affects perspective. So what the West calls a "suicide
bombing" will be portrayed in many parts of the
Middle East – especially in countries in the Gulf and Lebanon
where Palestinians and Lebanese control the editorial policy,
and Iraq and Syria where the state-controlled media are styled
on that of Stalinist Russia – as an "operation of martyrdom".
The education system and the Orwellian re-writing of history
have occasioned this outlook. In addition, the backing that the
West gave to various military coups and its support for the regimes
of Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, General
Assad in Syria and Colonel Gaddafi in Libya undoubtedly aided
this process. So we have, alas, a generation of teachers, journalists
and public opinion-makers who have brainwashed people to use their conflict
with Israel as a yardstick with which to measure the distance between
friends and foes. But Israel is just one factor. What angers the Middle
Easterners in general is the trend in the West for confusing what is Arabic
with what is Islamic and with what is the Middle East. Such confusion
is generally to do with the ignorance (or, let's be honest, indifference)
of Westerners. It is not a conspiracy, although it is often portrayed as
one.
Rejection of Western trappings thus comes to be seen as a kind
of purification. In its most extreme form, this is exemplified by
Osama bin Laden turning away from his playboy lifestyle spent squandering
money in casinos, in order to embrace the struggle against America. In
this he is following a pattern that many far less extreme Arabs would
instantly recognise: the nationalist struggle to shake off Western
influence from Suez to the Levant and the anti-colonial movement
in North Africa.
Until a mixture of forced Arabisation and an invasion of
nouveaux riches stripped it of its unique Englishness in the 1970s,
Victoria College in Alexandria was the Eton of the Middle East. It
produced King Hussein of Jordan, Omar Sharif and the celebrated film-maker
Youssef Chahine, as well as half the Egyptian cabinet. The cafés
in Beirut and Alexandria were on the same level of sophistication
as those in Paris, Cannes and Nice. The Islamic fundamentalist fever
of the 1980s pushed those marble table-tops running with beer and
wine behind wooden shutters. But they still do good trade. The latest
Parisian fashions appear in the boutiques of Cairo, Alexandria and
Beirut as quickly as they hit the trendy London shops.
The 1960s saw the peak of the love affair with Western culture.
Colonel Nasser's motorcade was made up of shiny black American Cadillacs.
The renaissance in Egyptian theatre brought with it the translation
of modern American writers such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams,
Edward Albee and Eugene O'Neill. The shows were very popular and
strongly influenced the budding theatrical movements of Syria, Lebanon,
Iraq and the Gulf.
Today, the mass media in the Arab world is undiluted in its
influence. The Arab masses, who never see Westerners except as tourists,
learn about them from mass-circulation newspapers, colour magazines,
popular TV series and films. Just consider for a moment what impression
you in Britain would have of other nations if your sole exposure
to them was via tour groups. So Western women are portrayed as either
easy-to- get blonde tarts or as sly brunettes. In recent years
another stereotype has been added: that of the hard-nosed
Western feminist who frightens her own men. National stereotypes
abound, too. American men are seen as gullible, easy to con, violent
and trigger-happy. French men are seen
as womanisers, crooks and drunks. Italian men are all mafia
members. British men are well-dressed, devious, cigar-smoking exploiters
– "perfidious Albion" personified. They are generally portrayed as
plotting furtively so that everyone can go to war so that they, the
British, will benefit.
This, in outline, is the picture Arab viewers get of Westerners
as they go to the cinema. And yet they continue to wear the
latest Western fashion labels, drink Coke, chew gum and use
Western mobile phones. In the Gulf countries, where women
are required to cover up, underwear and fashionable dresses
have survived. The passion for the television series Dynasty
and Dallas has given way to Friends. It is impossible to keep
cultural America at bay. The terrorists know this, and it feeds
their hatred.
The majority of Arabs may interpret every event and tragedy
that befalls them as a conspiracy by the West. Yet they
happily adopt Western styles in many aspects of everyday life
– and they would be furious if this were taken away from
them.
Much of the envy and anger we have witnessed in the response
to the attack on America is the result of this paradox. The Arab
world aspires in great part to enjoy the material and cultural products
of the West: the cars, clothes, fast food, films, books, the internet
and fashion. And yet its citizens are deprived to varying degrees
by dictators – benevolent or otherwise – of the civil and political
rights enjoyed by Westerners.
Many ordinary Arabs have seen over past decades how many
democratic movements in their societies were crushed by
despots supported by the West and using Western weapons.
The memories linger. People carry on dreaming of justice, the one
Western commodity which is still denied so many of them. Frustrated
and trapped by leaders who want to close
their windows on the world, they interpret an appalling
Western tragedy as some form of vicarious justice. That is the
saddest legacy of all – a love affair gone sour.
1998
Professor Barry Robins
on The Bombing
Bin
Laden is now the most wanted man; as he replaces Abu
Threats
to America in the Gulf:
The US Navy cancelled shore leave in the region and advised servicemen
to be extra cautious. Two years ago this month a bomb went off in the US
military compound in Al-Khobor killed several service men. Recent threats
by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden- who is the prime suspect in the attack
have also contributed to the tension. Security has been tightened around
US at embassies throughout the Middle East. American citizens were advised
to be alert and inconspicuous when travelling in the region. The US has
withdrawn its Air Force Air Expeditionary Wing from Bahrain's Sheikh Isa
airbase. Bahrain had agreed in March to extend the deployment of US aircraft
on its territory for a further two months at the height of the crisis between
Iraq and the UN over weapons inspections The last of 12 F-117 stealth fighters
deployed in Kuwait last November returned to the US on 7 June
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