Reply to Huntington
Hazem Ghobarah (ghobarah@jeeves.la.utexas.edu)
Mon, 18 Sep 1995 14:56:32 -0500
Edward Said's response to Huntington's essay is that it is a typical
orientalist piece. It espouses cultural essentialism and proceeds to give
advice to Western governments on how to dominate, manage and police the
"other". Huntington defies reality in his characterization of civilizations
as impermeable monolithic entities and in further emphasizing their
potential to clash rather than conduct beneficial exchanges. Were the text
books of medicine in medieval Europe not written by Muslims (al-Razi and
Avicenna)?. That is what Edward Said might think.
Huntington's tabloid scholarship naturally irritated committed
liberals and secularists like Ajami. On the other hand, it was met by nods
of agreement from the paranoid on both sides of the alleged "civilizationl
fault lines". In Ameica, "The National Review" has been running articles of
unbriddled paranoia such as the four-page "The Muslims Are Coming!" by
a certain Daniel Pipes in November 19,1990. The line of argument in those
articles appeared vindicated by the "Clash of Civilizations". Serious
scholars like Huntington and Arthur Schlesinger are using their scholarly
weight whicah was earned over the years to lend repectability to xenophopia
and to fuel the flames of hatred and strife.
In Muslim countires, cultural conservatives were also rubbing their
hands in glee. (Perhaps the paranoid on both sides have more in common than
they care to admit). 'I told you so' was the theme echoed by several
columnists in Egypt's high-brow daily "al-Ahram". Mustafa Mahmoud, Fahmi
Howedi and others argued that the Westo-philes in Muslim countries are
deluded and naive; for the west (Western intellectuals, governments,
and the public) is actively plotting against Islam. They seek to clash with
us, and we better prepare for it. So cried Huntington.
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