Democratic Palestine : 33 (ص 25)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 33 (ص 25)
- المحتوى
-
| The Current State of Arab Culture
In this, Dr. Faysal Darraj analyses the effects of the June 1967 defeat and the ensuing developments, in-
cluding the oil boom, on Arab thought and literature.
From the beginning of national independence up to the June
1967 defeat, the Arab East (Mashreq) witnessed a great rise in
both nationalist and Marxist ideologies. Both defended a set of
comprehensive positive values, looking forward to the realiza-
tion of a new Arab society. The nationalist ideology called for
Arab unity, social progress, liberation from colonialism,
restoration of ancient Arab glory, assimilating positive aspects
of European civilization, defense of science, etc. The Marxist
ideology raised the slogans of liberation of both the individual
and society, comprehensive social justice, unity of human
thought, etc. In both cases, rationalism occupied a dominant
position. The nationalist ideology gave priority to national
identity as compared to religious identity, consequently
defending a civil, secular society. The Marxist ideology fought
metaphysics, and defended the principles of social develop-
ment, the interaction of civilizations, etc. It glorified reason,
and struggled for the politicization of the masses and
democracy in word and deed.
In spite of the complete historical failure of these two
ideologies for many reasons that cannot be listed here, their
progressive character becomes clear when we look at the cur-
rently dominant ideas. Twenty years after the defeat, confes-
sionalism has flourished and religious fanaticism has increas-
ed, while the concept of civil society has been waning. In addi-
tion to all its other results, the June defeat resulted in the
defeat of Arab rationalism and the victory of various
obscurant trends.
THE CRISIS OF ARAB THOUGHT
The June war led to the defeat of the political forces which
stood for progress, humanist culture, rationalism, etc.
Theoretically, it was essential that the defeated forces make
self-criticism. However, their historical fragility prevented
them from doing so; hence, the continuation and ever-growing
magnitude of the defeat; and hence the fact that Arabs have
started to look for an ideological alternative, or to withdraw in
protest against the ideological trends which had risen before
the defeat. In both cases, religion seemed to be the sole way out
for a great part of Arab society. In such conditions, religion
carried a multitude of different meanings according to the
social forces which adopted it. Some found it an individual
solution or a kind of protest against the failure of both
capitalism and socialism. Others used religion to face the
alienation they suffered in their daily life or took it as a
cultural weapon to resist the European style of life. Still others
resorted to a kind of political religion, considering Islam a
method to build a new society based on Islamic ideals and
concepts.
Democratic Palestine, June 89
Although defeat has contributed to the creation of the ob-
jective conditions of a new revival of religion, this revival
would have been impossible without the oil boom, especially in
Saudi Arabia. This spread into many Arab countries, manag-
ing to dominate a great part of the ideological machinery which
produces social consciousness, from the astounding increase in
the number of mosques, to the audiovisual mass media and the
establishment of publishing houses, newspapers, magazines,
research centers etc. This has succeeded in creating a new
cultural atmosphere, divorced from the actual problems of
reality and even capable of pushing them away. Thus, the
phenomenon of disguising the actual problem, while
celebrating the delusive ones, has become the principal
characteristic of the oil culture which is, in fact, the dominant
Arab culture. Even when the real problems are approached,
the solutions remain illusive.
The essential character of the prevailing Arab culture is not
manifested in political allegiance or a partisan position, but in
a series of ideological stereotvpes which fight the defeat from
defeated positions. Such stereotypes never criticize the thinking
that prevailed before June 1967 in order to develop it, but in
order to prove its complete failure, thereby resorting to ideas
more backward than those of the Arab renaissance of a century
before. Looking at the subjects taken up by Arab thought in its
best known and most effective types, one sees how confused
and impotent it is. Dr. Anwar Abdul Melik, an Egyptian
Marxist from the fifties, recently wrote about «The Eastern
Wind which Defeats that of the West.» He divides the world
into East and West, and sees the future of mankind in the East,
and its past in the West. The East, in his view, consists of the
Arab-Islamic countries, together with China, Japan and the
Muslims in the Soviet Union. To achieve the victory of the
East, he considers the alliance between the intellectual and the
authority necessary, because the latter is blind and without
culture, while the former remains disarmed without power.
One of those who inspired the Islamic fundamentalist
movement, Hassan Hanafi of Egypt, demands in all of his
many books (Tradition and Renovation, From Faith to
Revolution, etc.) the alliance of inspiration and history, after
putting the former above the latter, assigning absolute
authority to inspiration and consequently rendering Islam
valid for all times and places. Hisotry, in his view, is the
religious consciousness of the masses, or religion as perceived
by the masses. Ultimately, he arrives at a concept very close to
the «mass spirit» which leads to absolute irrationalism in both
theory and politics. This irrationalism is clearly revealed in the
concept of the «Islamic essence» whereby he believes that the
Muslim is the sole one capable of understanding his religion,
reality and future. Therefore, Dr. Hanafi rejects Western >
25
WHI - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 33
- تاريخ
- يونيو ١٩٨٩
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed