Tariq Ali History Can Be

Tariq Ali

History can be changed in a matter of seconds by unpredicted events which shatter the realities known to human kind up to that point. The 9/11 events represents one such event that shocked the world and gave new dimensions to what was up to then considered to be a comprehensive approach to international security threats. The impact and the atrocious aftermath of the terrorist attacks gave it a completely new dimension and a totally different importance and role in the framing of national security strategies.

The analysis that followed 9/11 tried to discover and reinterpret the possible roots of the murderous attacks and appealed to previous research done concerning the relations between cultures, civilizations, ways of life and existing tensions. In this sense, the theories of scholars such as Samuel Huntington, Telhami, Tarik Ali and Dr. Mathieu Guidere and Dr. Newton Howard all represent interesting points-of-view concerning the relations created between civilizations, peoples, and cultures. Each theory in its turn exploits a precise point-of-view; thus, the diversity of the perspectives presented offer at the same time an important contribution to the studies in the area.

Samuel Huntington first expressed his theory of the clash of civilizations through a question rather than an actual statement. In his 1993 Foreign Affairs article and later on in the 1996 "Clash of civilizations" he points out the importance of cultural heritage in shaping the attitudes of peoples in terms of their conflicting nature. Huntington predicts that the post Cold War era would be marked by conflicts arising from these entities' attempts to find a higher item to offer them the sense of cultural and civilization identity. (1996) the experience of the bipolar world in which decisions and courses of action were most of the times imposed by ideological adherence to one or the other blocks had transformed the cultural identity of the peoples into a secondary value; yet it remained entrenched in the collective mentality which held those peoples together. The fall of the ideological barrier in the early 90s represented a signal for the reemergence of the desire to reinvent the national and cultural identity hence the clash of civilizations Huntington underlines. In his view, the Arab world would eventually come to reject Western supremacy; the Chinese would unite under their economic and historical heritage, while the South Eastern part of Asia would engage in an astute competition with the rest of the world, in their attempt to emerge as a new pole of power.

Shibley Telhami offers a different approach on the way in which cultures actually interact. In this sense, as an important figure in the Middle East Peace process, he considers that political violence can somewhat be curved by different incentives of political and economic nature. Throughout his numerous articles, he advocates the idea that politics done through an economic perspective can be rewarding in the sense that it can offer stability that fosters peaceful relations (Telhami and Hill, 2002). As an expert in the Middle East peace process, he concurs that the establishment of the relations between Israel and Egypt can be considered as a result of the "supply and demand" of security and economic guarantees that must bring benefits to both parties (Greffenius, 1993). In this sense, violence can somewhat be avoided through a fair trade of guarantees.

Opposing Huntington's view is the theory of the clash of perceptions rather than that of civilizations. Dr. Mathieu Guidere and Dr. Newton Howard argue against the clash of civilization by pointing out that misperception and misconception are essential in determining conflict relations. They argue that it is important to actually understand not only the historical aspects of a civilization but also the perceptions surrounding it. In this sense, they consider that "the most difficulties today owe to the misperceptions and misconceptions that divide individuals, not only of different cultures, but also of the same culture" (Guidere and Howard, 2006). Thus, their theory takes into account, unlike Huntington's even the relations between people of the same culture that can be sometimes viewed as possible conflicts.

Finally, Tarik Ali views possible future conflicts in terms of a clash of fundamentalisms. He advances this idea because he considers the common explanation "they hate us, because they're jealous of our freedoms and our wealth" as unrewarding (Ali, 2007). He goes on to say that individuals, in their singular quality, are not practically responsible for inducing violence, and rather "violence, unfortunately, is systemic" (Ali, 2007). The extremes of national ideas, of religious beliefs, of mentalities, are the ones that foster conflict, and not necessarily differences in religion or nationalities or cultures.