Opinion - Leader Page Articles

Crisis for the Arabs

By Mushirul Hasan

The problem for the Arab world today is liberating most of its countries from authoritarian rule, safeguarding national interests from the growing menace of U.S. imperialism.

THE SECOND World War engulfed the Muslim countries: North Africa was the scene of grim battles; Iraq and Syria-Lebanon were occupied by Allied forces who were fighting pro-Axis nationalists in the former and Vichy French in the latter; the Allies also occupied Iran. The Arabs emerged shortly after the war with two new independent republics, Syria and Lebanon, and with Saudi Arabia having become unexpectedly a rich force for its oil resources and American interests therein.

Even though Iraq has gained some breathing space following the Security Council debate, the crescent is faced with a major crisis of a far more serious nature than before. It will not be over soon. Part of the reason is that the crescent is no longer confronted with two or three major powers that were pitted against one another in 19th century diplomacy but a powerful adversary that dictates world society, polity and economy from across the Atlantic. Though it is still unstated by Arab ideologues in such bald terms, for the crescent at least, the U.S. has itself turned into a rogue state targeting a nation and its civilian population that has yet to be proven guilty by the comity of nations represented at the United Nations.

Interestingly enough, George W. Bush and Tony Blair employ the same anti-Iraq and Iran rhetoric that some leading British politicians used against the Turks in the 19th century. Thus, even though official England continued to adhere to the policy of bolstering up the Ottoman empire vis-a-vis Russia, Gladstone talked fiercely in 1880 about how the Turks ought to be cleared out of Europe altogether, bag and baggage, bashaw and bashi-bazouk. Mr. Bush expects Saddam Hussein to do the same, raising imaginary fears of weapons of mass destruction stored under the rubble caused by incessant U.S. bombings. In the late 19th century, massacres of Bulgars and Armenians revived half-forgotten memories of older Ottoman savagery, and the phrase `unspeakable Turk' was repeated. Today, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair, who condone Israel's brutal aggression in Palestine, repeatedly talk of the massacres of Shias and Kurds by the Iraqi regime.

If the alarm bells are not ringing from Cairo to Islamabad, they should do so now. The signs are that the U.S. establishment, acting in unison with Mr. Blair, the enfant terrible of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, is probably ready with a blueprint for redrawing the boundaries of West Asia. The plan may not be implemented in the near future owing to the opposition of France, Germany and Russia, but the U.S. has, as a first step, gained success in cajoling or bullying weak Gulf states into signing scraps of paper. Oman has done it; so has Bahrain. Hoping to use U.S. influence to join the European Union, Turkey has allowed more than easy access to the American troops. The `Sick Man' of Europe has ceased to be an apt description, but the Turkish Government has time and time again proved to the world that it is ideologically bankrupt, and lacking in the will to pursue its national interests independently of Washington.

How important is the oil factor? I believe the major project is not to capture the oil or gas pipelines. That will, at any rate, be a sequel to a successful military assault on Iraq. The long-term goal of the U.S. right republican regime is to humiliate the Arabs, undermine their self-pride and dignity and bolster the Zionists in Israel. In effect, in the name of combating global terrorism the Bush-Blair combine is preparing to declare war against Islam and the Muslim communities. Baghdad is the first port of halt; Teheran, Kabul and Islamabad will be targeted next.

How then would the Muslim countries face this unprecedented Anglo-Saxon threat to their very survival? Realistically speaking, there are no easy answers especially because pan-Islamism, invented in the last quarter of the 19th century to bolster the tottering Muslim regimes, has ceased to be an effective ideology or even a sentiment. Today, the house of Islam is hopelessly divided. How else would you explain the shameful conduct of Turkey, Bahrain, Oman and, above all, Saudi Arabia in allowing access to U.S. troops to conduct their military operations against fellow Muslims? Ironically enough, the royal family in Saudi Arabia is a custodian of the Holy Places of Islam, but not their co-religionists in Iraq. Royalty basks in its medieval glory, while Iraqi children die.

Several Muslim countries, subjected to the oppression of their own feudal and autocratic rulers, must find answers to their own dilemmas and predicaments. But one thing is for sure: their peoples must eschew acts of violence and intimidation under all circumstances. Terrorism has no place in the modern world, for it disturbs the fragile unity that binds nations and communities. Jehad, too, has no contemporary relevance, and those who raise the war cry in the name of religion offend others and cause injury to their own cause. The present-day battles are secular in nature — against poverty, hunger, unemployment, child labour, gender injustice and environmental pollution. To win these battles, we need secular slogans and not dated religious terminologies.

Last Saturday's massive anti-war rallies the world over clearly demonstrated that certain causes cut across religious and territorial boundaries. They cannot be defined as `Muslim', `Hindu' or `Christian', or be appropriated by a particular religious entity. A just cause is one that is fought in unison with the international community. The survival of Islam, as indeed of any other religion, therefore is irrevocably linked with the larger world problem — that of peace and disarmament. Yet, the part which the Muslims can play in determining the course of events is small, and depends on the extent to which they can participate with other nations, including India, for the preservation of peace.

Herein lies the difficult: the absence of a secular model in what is described as the Muslim world. In years to come, the Palestinian state, with its strong multi-religious character, may provide the perfect answer to the challenges of creating a modern nation-state. Until that happens, the Iran model, fashioned by Ayatollah Khomeni, is the only available model that is worthy of emulation, especially in lands that have no cohesive ideology to sustain them. If adapted to local conditions, the Iranian experimentation, though misunderstood in many circles because of its defiant posture towards the U.S., lends itself to greater acceptance because it rests on a deep sense of pride in national identity, cultural cohesion, civilisational unity and religious solidarity. Today, national identity, combined with sovereignty, is in peril. It needs to be defended now, more than ever before.

Time is running out for the Arab rulers. That is because most of them have allowed their own interests to be jettisoned by the powerful nations, and, in the process, forgotten what they owed to their people. Islam is a powerful force, but its immense creative potential has not been harnessed to create an egalitarian society. The essence of Islam is participatory democracy, but it is this very principle that has been flouted in countries such as Saudi Arabia. Revivalism and fundamentalism have overtaken the currents of reforms and innovation that had swept the Muslim world — from Egypt to Indonesia — in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In short, the problem for the Arab world today is liberating most of its countries from authoritarian rule, safeguarding national interests from the growing menace of U.S. imperialism, delivering Palestine from Zionism and achieving economic, social and intellectual progress throughout its lands. Western political and economic domination has obstructed unity, retarded progress and strengthened Israel, the most serious danger to which the Arab world has been exposed since the Crusades. It is time to wake up to this painful reality.

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