This was a legitimate question given the murder of the American Ambassador in Libya and accompanying violent demonstrations in a number of Muslim countries in response to a low-grade film degrading Prophet Muhammad. Islam accepts Christianity and Judaism as divine religions and condemns murder as the other two do. However, adherents of all three religions have not refrained from using violence and committing crimes against the “other” as well as their own. Hence, it must be life experiences that generally shape and guide human behavior not necessarily the values advocated by the holy books.
This is where culture comes in. If we define culture as collective experience and its reflection on human behavior, it becomes easier to define non-mainstream modes of behavior.
The West has not only coded the Islamic world as the “other,” but labeled it as the “East” or the “Orient” as well. So when I refer to the “East,” I mean Muslim countries. The East was not born as the antithesis of the West or Christianity. Both Christianity and Islam are legitimate religions. Antagonism and animosity cropped up from the aggressive and unequal relationship between the East and the West.
East-West relations became more than a historical fact and consolidated as an unchanging reality (as well as emotion) with the onslaught of Crusaders upon the East. The Crusades are the reflection of the dark side of the West that came with plunder and slaughter, denigrating all forms of higher human values. The East learned about the atrocities and material greed of the West against this poisonous backdrop.
At the time of the Crusades the development of civilizations that confronted each other was more or less at the same level. But when the West began to develop through an expanding market economy and organized manufacturing, its level of development began to grossly differ from that of the East. The West became an imperial center, and the East became its colonial periphery.
When the process of the infusion of the West into the East was completed, it was a power that couldn’t be defeated by the latter. Eastern intellectuals saw the only way out of this servitude and unequal relationship by adopting the “science and technology of the West.” This belief has led to a contradiction that has not as yet been resolved: admiring and becoming just like one’s exploiter and oppressor. The only method proposed by the elite of the East to shed colonization was to emulate the West and become as strong as it was in order to defeat it!
Few thought of developing their own civilization, which they had left behind in the Middle Ages, or an alternative way of modernization to compete with the West. Naturally, unable to trace the historical path of the West, the East could not catch up with Western civilization. It only adopted parts of it so that it could make use of its products and knowledge. This is not to say that the West helped them in this respect. On the contrary, it used all of the instruments of colonization (invasion, exploitation, domination, exclusion and denigration) to delay their development and the building of self-respect and confidence.
The feelings of defeat and humiliation penetrated so deep into the collective psychology of the East that it produced a scarred/traumatized psyche. Easterners began to blame the West for all their ills and everything they wished for but could not attain. They attributed their weakness, retarded development and lack of unity to Western intervention. This “siege mentality” resulted in hatred and anger but did not produce any viable solution to the basic problems of the East.
Scapegoating prevented the development of analytical and critical thinking. In the absence of creative thinking and competition, reactionary behavior and hero (savior) worshipping developed. Hero worshipping comes with a strong sense of collective solidarity that avoids criticism and alternative forms of thought. What is a general trait in the East surfaces in the West at times of severe economic and political crisis.
The strong sense of salvation and deconstruction of colonization came with the call of local leaders who fostered nationalist feelings before there was a mature nation. These leaders were also Western oriented and often Western educated. They too tried to lead their people to catch up with Western civilization, while they fostered anti-Western sentiments to keep the national spirit alive. But because Eastern nationalism did not have a civilizational reference to compete with the West, nationalism alone did not suffice to win the national struggle that was carried on through military or political instruments. The need to reinforce nationalism and religious and communal references was put to work. These inputs further reinforced antagonism with the West.
Science, technology, art and philosophy — which could have given depth to the national struggle — were neglected. In the absence of large leaps (accomplished by Japan, China and South Korea) that could be called revolutionary, Muslim peoples channeled their frustration against their relative deprivation through rebellions. However, rebellions vent anger and provide temporary satisfaction rather than bringing lasting (structural) changes. But unfortunately, rebellions have shaped the form of political behavior in the East.
Another characteristic of the East is the formulation of “salvation” as a collective phenomenon. There is no room for individual endeavor or freedom in this staunch collectivist understanding of social reality. In fact, individual rights and freedoms are always sacrificed to collective rights and gains. That is why rather than freedom (of the individual), independence of the nation is exalted. Yet individuals have not become free since decolonization or independence. Their anger this time around has turned against their rulers (governments) and states. They have substituted rebellion with politics that meant moderation, deliberation, reconciliation and cohabitation. However, their violent ways did not suffice to solve their problems because they did not really search for the reasons for the problems.
*Doğu Ergil is a Turkish polical scientist
