The Clash Thesis: A Failing Ideology?

[Rahima]

The Clash Thesis: A Failing Ideology?

M Shahid Alam

Article ID: 1216 | 156 Reads

 

 

 

"They hate us because we don't know why they hate us."

- Bill Maher

 

Instantly, instinctively, and unrelentingly, the American establishment has framed the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the language of a clash of civilizations. The Islamic terrorists attacked America because they hate our highest values, our freedoms, our way of life, our civilization.

 

President Bush wasted no time in defining the language of this dis-course in his first speech on September 11, 2001. "Today," he opened his speech, "our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts." This thesis was hammered home again. "America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world."

 

On September 20, 2001, the President returned to this question in his speech to a joint session of the Congress. Indeed, it was the centerpiece of his speech. "Americans are asking," he told us, "who attacked our country?" His answer: the attackers are "a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al-Qaeda." Their goal is "is remaking the world ­ and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere."

 

Americans are also asking, the President informs us, "why do they hate us?" His answer is clearly stated. "They hate what we see right here in this chamber ­ a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms ­ our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." It is not clear anymore if 'they' points to al-Qaida, the Arabs or all Muslims.

 

A month after the September 11 attacks, President Bush made the connection more explicit. "How do I respond," he asks, "when I see that in some Islamic countries there is vitriolic hatred for America?" Of cuorse, the President is "amazed that there's such misunderstanding of what our country is about that people would hate us. I am ­ like most Americans, I just can't believe it because I know how good we are."

 

This then is the ideology of America's establishment as it wages its "war against terror." The Muslims attacked America because they hate who we are. They want to destroy us because they hate our freedom, our opportunities, our democratic institutions, our way of life, our Judeo-Christian heritage. It is a hatred that is civilizational. It is rooted in the illiberal, intolerant, misogynist, anti-modernist, and anti-scientific culture of Muslims and their religion. This thesis is now spun a thousand times every day by America's politicians, press and pundits.

 

This ideology of the clash of civilizations is multi-layered. First, it seeks to explain to Americans and the rest of the world why the United States and the rest of the world must wage this war against terror. Secondly, the clash thesis ­ long championed by Zionist ideologues inside and outside Israel ­ is a device for Americanizing the war Israel has waged against the Palestinians and Arabs. Thirdly, the war against terror is itself a cover which the United States is using to establish a more muscular control over the world.

 

This ideology is problematic. First, there is its flimsiness. It uses an inane concoction to deflect the blame for the September 11 attacks from US policies in the Middle East: our craven pandering to Israeli aggression, our vital support for corrupt and dictatorial regimes in the Middle East, and the war and deadly sanctions against Iraq since 1990. It is flimsy because it contradicts our understanding of human nature. As Charles Reese put it, "It is absurd to suppose that a human being sitting around suddenly stands up and says: "You know, I hate freedom. I think I'll go blow myself up." [1] Despite the incessant brainwashing, most Americans can see that.

 

The ideology fails for at least four additional reasons. If it is their hatred of freedoms that motivated Muslims to attack America, why did they wait for some 200 years to begin their attacks against America ­ if we start the clock with the bombing of American marines in Beirut? The clash thesis raises another question: why America only? Surely, freedoms are not unique to America. The Arabs could have found several easier targets, and nearer their home bases too, in Europe. Third, if the Islamic world so hated freedoms, why did young men from all corners of the Islamic world descend upon Afghanistan to fight the totalitarian Soviets? Fourth, if the attackers are such freedom-haters why can't they get along with their own anti-democratic regimes, in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Algeria and Jordan?

 

The clash thesis resoundingly fails another crucial test. Will the Islamists who attacked the United States, and prepare for additional attacks, scrap their terrorist campaign if the United States turns into a fascist state or ­ try to imagine this ­ if America's elites convert to Islam but continue their present policies towards the Islamic world? One might pose a similar question for the Zionists who accuse the Palestinians of anti-Semitism. Would the course of Palestinian resistance be any different if we could replace the colonial-settler Jews with colonial-settler Germans, colonial-settler Chinese or even colonial-settler Pakistanis? The Islamist resistance does not stem from differences of race or religion that divide Muslims from Americans or Jews. It is a response to US-Israeli violence, systematic and longstanding, that seeks to divide, undermine, control and humiliate Islamic societies.

 

Despite its intense propaganda, the American establishment has failed to dupe most Americans on the Clash thesis. In a CBS/NYT poll done in September 2002, 21 percent Americans place "a lot of blame" on "US policies in the Middle East over the years, while another 54 percent place "some blame" on these policies. According to a Pew Research Center survey in August 2002, 53 percent Americans said that the attacks of September 11 were "mostly because" of the "political beliefs" of the terrorists; only 25 percent believed that the terrorists were motivated by "religious beliefs." [2] Finally, a Los Angeles Times poll in September 2002 shows that 58 percent Americans think that the attacks were "a direct result of United States' policy in the Middle East." [3]

 

The Clash thesis and the associated war on terrorism carry little or no credibility outside the United States. This was first demonstrated in massive world wide protests against the planned US invasion of Iraq. Outside of the United States and Israel, the overwhelming majority of world opinion regarded this war to be illegal and immoral. Now, more than a year after a failed occupation of Iraq; after the revelations of systematic torture by Americans in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay; after the erosion of liberties inside the United States; after the establishment of an American Gulag whose geographic expanse exceeds anything established by the Soviet Union; American prestige in the world has sunk to the lowest point in its history. In a poll conducted by the European Union in October 2003, 53 percent of EU citizens marked the United States as the second greatest threat to world peace. It's chief ally, Israel, bagged the first prize. [4]

 

The bogey of America's 'global' and 'unending war' on terrorism will soon face another test. While the United States and its neocolonial allies have incarcerated thousands in Gulags spread across the world ­ without charges and without recourse to law ­ the 'war against terrorism' has produced very few convictions for terrorist crimes against the United States. If the al-Qaida is indeed a formidable adversary, with a global reach, and with sleeper cells in the United States itself, trained in the manufacture and use of WMDs, its failure to launch even a single operation against the United States since September 11, 2001, poses a problem for the credibility of the 'war against terrorism.'

 

It is of course all too easy for the United States to take credit for this failure. 'Look how good we have been against this formidable foe. Our intelligence failed utterly before 9-11, but we have since fixed all the problems.' Alternatively, they might argue that they are fighting these terrorists in Baghdad and Najaf instead of Boston and New York. But this rhetoric will wear out over time.

 

If indeed al-Qaida fails to launch another attack against American interests, on American soil or elsewhere, Americans too will begin to ask: Did the United States overreact. Worse, they might question if this war was a phony, a cover to curtail liberties, to launch preventive wars, to line the pockets of corporate executives with tens of billions stolen from American tax-payers. Have so many Americans died in vain ­ for a phony war? Have Americans died for Israel ­ to fulfill its strategic objective of balkanizing, pulverizing the larger Arab states? Once Americans begin to ask these questions, the consequences could be unpredictable for Israel and for the exercise of American power in the world.

 

It is unlikely, however, that the US-Israeli axis will allow this kind of questioning to ever take place. The strategists in Washington and Tel Aviv understand very well how Newton's third law of motion operates in the realm of history. If the 'war on terrorism' is a phony, it can in time ­ once the preventive wars are extended to Iran, Syria and Pakistan ­ be made to produce the causes that will make it look more credible, even more compelling. Great powers have never lacked the ability or willingness to produce the wars their elites think are profitable. If the people do not get behind their wars ­ or, in our case, start falling back after getting in line ­ that is not a problem. Great democracies know how to manufacture consent. In the present circumstances, when history appears to be balanced on a knife-edge, that trick looks easier than ever.

 

Let no one underestimate the power of great countries ­ and we are undoubtedly the greatest the world has ever seen ­ to convert phony wars into real ones. Although false, the clash thesis can become self-fulfilling.

[OG_Girl]

Looool@"The Islamic terrorists attacked America because they hate our highest values, our freedoms, our way of life, our civilization".

 

Bush is funny guy! What about us? Why they destroyed and still destroying our lands? Cause of spreading Democrecy! Yeah right Mr Bush.

 

Rahima, thanks for sharing.

 

Salam

[Waranle_Warrior]

OG - Dont't you support the democratization of the Arab World, Just look at pathetic actions of the Saudi government, beheadings, race suppiriority, with all the cruelty and torturing culture.

 

Do not get me wrong, Of course I love them but it's about time they should get taugh life learning lessons.

[Socod_badne]

The author of this article deliberately twists and overlooks some of the truth. It follows a sad trend among some muslim intellectuals of lately. He calls these terrorists 'muslim resistance'. These are ppl who advocate and practice the cold blooded killing of civilians. There is some truth in what the US says about these terrorist groups, like Al-Qaida. They do hate everything the US stands for and practices. They said it themselves. They are not for freedom of speech, religion. Why does he overlook these facts? This doesnt mean the US is innocent but they are not the cause of all the problems in muslim world. I have always wondered why a syrian, whos government isnt supported by the US, would march to condemn the US. It seems some muslims take the role of playing the victim. Almost all the problems of the muslim world are the fault of muslims not the US.

[OG_Girl]

^^ corruption is not only in Mideast dear or Saudi Arabia! Yes , I support the changing but not from outside. Change should be inside.We need to educate our youth before we go and cry from American democrecy.

 

And these regimes are protected by America! When they finish with them they will call them terrorist supporters like Saddam Hussain or they will fall for them more and more!.

 

Salam

[Paragon]

Nomads, read the original article of ' The Class of Civilizations' by the realist Samuel Huntington, so that you may follow the article above. You may just find the original article informative in regards to understanding why Bush or neo-cons behave the way they do. You may also find in the article the reason why American decision-makers fear the occurrence of clash . Enjoy

[Wiilo]

I have read this article in my Global Studies class, also Orientalism, by Edward Said..

 

I support the changing but not from outside. Change should be inside.We need to educate our youth before we go and cry from American democrecy.

I agree with you gal, change should be inside, not from outside with authority.....

 

 

sAlaAma kA DhEh:.........

[Viking]

The 'war on terror' is just an excuse to push for American hegemony.

 

J'maal,

The book by S. P. Huntington (of the same name) written over 10 years ago was quite informative.

[Rahima]

The author of this article deliberately twists and overlooks some of the truth. It follows a sad trend among some muslim intellectuals of lately. He calls these terrorists 'muslim resistance'. These are ppl who advocate and practice the cold blooded killing of civilians. There is some truth in what the US says about these terrorist groups, like Al-Qaida. They do hate everything the US stands for and practices. They said it themselves. They are not for freedom of speech, religion. Why does he overlook these facts? This doesnt mean the US is innocent but they are not the cause of all the problems in muslim world. I have always wondered why a syrian, whos government isnt supported by the US, would march to condemn the US. It seems some muslims take the role of playing the victim. Almost all the problems of the muslim world are the fault of muslims not the US.

Conditions of receiving your green card ? Really, it’s quiet sad to see a free human being sell themselves for a piece of paper.

 

Jamaal,

Thanks.

 

OG_Girl,

You’re welcome.

[bilan]

he is professor of economics at northeastern university,he almost lost his job by supporting unpopular causes, i really like him,he stands what he believes, and he never supported al-qaida, or what they did, but he is against labeling all muslims terrorists, he has a lot of articles in his website.

[Socod_badne]

Originally posted by Rahima:

quote: The author of this article deliberately twists and overlooks some of the truth. It follows a sad trend among some muslim intellectuals of lately. He calls these terrorists 'muslim resistance'. These are ppl who advocate and practice the cold blooded killing of civilians. There is some truth in what the US says about these terrorist groups, like Al-Qaida. They do hate everything the US stands for and practices. They said it themselves. They are not for freedom of speech, religion. Why does he overlook these facts? This doesnt mean the US is innocent but they are not the cause of all the problems in muslim world. I have always wondered why a syrian, whos government isnt supported by the US, would march to condemn the US. It seems some muslims take the role of playing the victim. Almost all the problems of the muslim world are the fault of muslims not the US.

Conditions of receiving your green card

? Really, it’s quiet sad to see a free human being sell themselves for a piece of paper.

 

Jamaal,

Thanks.

 

OG_Girl,

You’re welcome.

Lol, yes it is indeed sad for someone to sell their themselves for a piece paper. However, it is also sad to see someone not able to contribute to their thread without resorting to personalisation and character assasination.

 

Still waiting a reasonable response.

[J.Lee]

It seems to me that the author is more focused on arguing against Hunnington's ideology rather than bringing forth his own. I'm curious though, so if the Clash of Civilization theory is false, how can it be self-fulling or otherwise become true?

 

This doesnt mean the US is innocent but they are not the cause of all the problems in muslim world.

I agree with you but you seem to overlook the fact, which OG pointed out, that it's the US that keeps these despotic regimes in power, and (as in the case of Iraq) when the said regimes disagree with their policies, The US morph’s into the Johnny Appleseed of democracy, and wages a war against the regime with the intention to overthrow them, supposedly in order to plant its seeds of peace and equality in the corruptive government tree so that the country might lead a healthy, just, and democratic life. Basically meaning the country and its handpicked officials become puppets thus allowing the US to insert its homogeny (which is what they sought to do in the first place!).

 

BTW, with the debate going on about whether to pass the Patriot Act or not, it seems that US isn't really for Freedom of Speech nor Religion because if they were, the act wouldn't be debated in the first place, now would it?

 

P.s

 

Wasn't Hunnington's theory shot to h!ll when 9/11 happened?

[Rahima]

Socod,

Some of your comment was laced with truth, but most was a Dubya speech - need I say more?

 

I didn’t mean any offence by that, so apologies for that, but we’ve heard all the terrorists (AKA Muslims) hate all that which America stands for, freedom of speech, religion blah blah :rolleyes: .

 

Also, don’t wait for a response, I posted the article for the reason that more or less I concur with the author.

[Paragon]

^^ ur wlcm.

 

Viking, lol I know the book bro, I have it at home. As apocalyptic as the guy's theory seems, I don't think its scary or holds water for that matter. Sxb read some Critical Theory perspective on these issues, cos the realists are simpletons who only 'pretend' to explain a world in which they have helped to create.

 

It is like making a cup of tea and then claiming it exists objectively by its own. Then carry on to explain how it will taste, or how hot it is lol. Later on down the line of history of the cup of tea explanation, they then claim such explanation has a 'timeless wisdom'. So huntington and the neo-cons are recreating the world as they wish it to look, and then they write books of predictions about it . Very neat huh? Their knowledge of cup of tea is strengthened by their grip on power.

 

Since they hold power over public and educational institutions, what they say becomes the common-sense that prevails in their societies. If the say Black is white, and White is Black, a hundred years from now, such an assertion is likely to become a commonly held view. Most people cannot conceive the thought of created 'common-sense' and its implications on social conscousness. It will be a labourous task to de-contruct these created common-senses, since those who could are suppressed in Universities and educational institutions. A university lecture who is a friend of mine had faced such suppression 'cos he held some neomarxist convictions.

 

Read Antonio Gramsci's writing on the creation of common-sense and the alternative 'organic intellectuals'. I suggested Critical theory to you 'cos it doesn't take anything as 'given'. It asks fundamental questions of Hows, which are helpful to realization of the Self. If you have time , another useful read will be 'Deep Ecology', it also challenges many things regading the relationship between nature and humans that are taken as 'given'.

[General Duke]

The first war on terror took place in the 1980’s when America was under threat by the great powers of Granada, Nicaragua and Salvador. The great leader of the time President Reagan father of the free world fought against all odds to defeat these rogue nations that posed the gravest danger to civilisation itself. After the cancer of Central America was cut out a new tumour began to grow.

 

A man of action was needed to rise to the occasion to confront the new evils of the world. This man was a simple, devout and courageous fellow, who was loved by all the folks for he responded to a higher calling. George Bush II. Like his hero Reagan picked up the torch of liberty and peace and like a supreme athlete ran with it illuminating the world, against great odds and with no help that peace full nation of ours managed to vanquish the great evil posed by that powerful entity Iraq.