|
|
|
July 7, 2002
REVIEW: So it is a clash?
Tariq Ali was never known for ‘political correctness’. His latest book, The clash of fundamentalisms, if anything, lives up to that rebellious image. In a broad sweep across time and space, his restless mind and prickly pen have not spared anyone. It is a disturbingly provocative read for diehard followers of any creed. The bearded caricature of President Bush not only adorns the title, but is also central to Ali’s analysis.
This diehard secular intellectual, who at times refers to himself as “a non-Muslim Muslim” aims to rip apart the mask of secularism from the face of the American establishment. As he deconstructs the mantras of Washington and its neo-liberal apologists, a reader begins to see the current world situation as a battle between Christian and Muslim fundamentalists, a struggle in which each side confidently claims God’s support. He argues, “what we experience today is the return of history in a horrific form”, with religious symbols such as “Allah’s revenge”, “God is on our side” and “God bless America” playing a part on both sides.
Ali minces no words in asserting that the visible violence of September 11 was the response and a natural corollary of the invisible but systematic violence to which the world has been subjected first by Britain and then by post-modern empire of the United States. Tracing the chronology of contradictions, he recalls Winston Churchill in 1937 in front of the Peel Commission when he said, “I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, has come in and taken their place”. Ironically Churchill was referring to the Palestinians under the British protectorate as ‘these people’ and the Jews as ‘a higher grade race’ at a time when a similar sentiment was being echoed in Nazi Germany, though from the opposite perspective.
After the Second World War the United States backed the most reactionary elements as a bulwark against communism or progressive/secular nationalism in every part of the Islamic world. Often these were the hardline religious fundamentalists: the Muslim Brotherhood against Nasser in Egypt; Serakat-i-Islam against Sukarno in Indonesia, the Jamat-i-Islami against Bhutto in Pakistan. Ali piles a layer of facts to argue that from the fascist Hasan al Bana in Egypt — who stayed in regular touch with Brigadier Calyton of British Military Intelligence — to the mastermind of international terrorism, Osama bin Laden, every rogue to begin with, was a creation of the Western intelligence agencies.
But is this all that explains Muslim fundamentalism? One wonders “if so then with the end of western support for the fundamentalists the problem should end”. Is it that simple?
Tariq Ali, in this unusual chronicle, is often split between the novelist, preoccupied with the emotions, and the political commentator fixated with accuracy. With a few lapses here and there, this is a job he does well. His account of Zionism and Palestinian misery is movingly powerful but relies extensively on Jewish writers and thinkers like Asher Ginzburg and Isaac Duetscher. His chapter, “Plain tales from Pakistan” takes a snapshot of the country’s political struggles in less than forty pages. But they are enormously readable for a panoramic view of the region.
Predicting US policy he comments, “how to give the Indians their pound of flesh without destabilizing Pakistan? Gen. Musharraf can obviously be sacrificed in the name of a return to democracy in Pakistan” Another chapter, “The story of Kashmir” deserves reading by everyone across the divide. Similarly at other points in his narrative his description of events leading up to the Suez crisis of 1956 and the 1967 Arab-Israel war, Islamic revolution in Iran, and the Gulf war helps develop an overall perspective in which events can be understood in relation to each other.
But despite the broad sweep of his book, a reader ends up with the feeling that Ali’s ultimate subject is the intellectual stagnation in the Islamic world. However unfortunately, throughout the book, as if suffering from a Marxist hangover, he has devoted more time in proving the initial ties between Islamic fundamentalists and Western imperialism than in addressing the roots of contemporary Muslim inertia. Though his initial chapters are extremely critical of the Islamic teachings, he nevertheless extols the glory of early Islamic civilization and points out the existence of a thriving and rigorous intellectual tradition.
One wonders, if the formula itself was so puny then how come the initial product so glorious? What happened next? What caused the downfall? He has no clear answer.
We may excuse him, for his obsession is to explain that fundamentalism as witnessed today was never a part of the Islamic heritage. In this respect he has done a good job. But when he finally addresses the issue of intellectual stagnation in “Letter to a young Muslim”, his style is pretty rugged and the treatment superficial.
His wish list is long: separation of state and mosque; the dissolution of the clergy; the freedom to think freely and rationally and the freedom of imagination. But Tariq being the intellectual disciple of Deutscher, Spinoza, Freud and Marx must have known that intellectual logjam can’t be overcome by wishing alone — especially if the wishes are pretty trite and cliched.
Interestingly he ends with a little sermon of his own. “I have let my pen run away with me and preached my heresies for too long. I doubt that I will change, but I hope you will.”
For its 330 pages, The clash of fundamentalisms is a narrative of an unusual range and style. Like a mediaeval kaleidoscope it shifts focus again and again, often leaving the reader bewildered by the missing links: opens in the middle of twentieth century India, reverts back to Muhammad’s Arabia, jumps across centuries to Zionism, and hops back to the mediaeval ages — transcending history with brief comments. For a reader not already familiar with these periods it might actually be difficult reading.
And, at times the author can’t seem to distinguish an interesting observation from a banal one. Paragraphs can go by with nothing but the bland recording of detail or verse. But despite these limitations, The clash of fundamentalisms offers its readers a wealth of information and critique rarely seen in a work of this size. His style is abrupt and his ideas scattered but then Tariq Ali has always written from his heart.
The clash of fundamentalisms: a critique of modern contradictions
By Tariq Ali
Verso Publishers
ISBN 1859846793
330pp. $22
|
|
|
|
