Quoth John Gulick:
> I always thought Amin was not assailing Arab-Muslim culture per se,
> but was merely claiming that the rise of so-called "fundamentalist Islam"
> bears a direct relationship to the crisis of the sort of national
> developmentalism
> Louis chronicled, although it can not and could never resolve this crisis.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The last thing I want is to get involved in a debate on Arab-Muslim
prospects, though I wouldn't mind following if others decide to extend
the thread. Yes, fundamentalism arose pursuant to the crisis Louis
addressed, and since its exhaustion will leave the Arab peoples with
no further untried options, they will be obliged to dance with a corpse
well into the future.
In a part of the book other than the one you refer to Amin states flatly
that the Arab-Muslim culture will not survive its encounter with Western
civilization, so there is some considerable space between what he would
prefer and what he actually anticipates. (Be advised that I read the
book 7 years ago and have not been back.)
> It seems to me that Amin's realistic utopia would be polycultural and
> would respect or at least tolerate progressive elements of Arab/Muslim
> thought and practice (how one makes these distinctions I don't know).
Exactly, how: Progressive elements of Arab/Muslim thought and practice
occupy innumerable prisons or graves when not cafes in London and Paris;
by their fruits ye shall not know them.
As for the countries themselves, nothing is more difficult than finding
information that one can feel confident of.
> I believe
> he has written quite extensively about how a model world political economy
> would consist of several self-determining blocs, with each bloc having some
> coherent common cultural history.
Again, Amin is allowing himself the luxury of hope here, but it appears
that Arab societies cannot put aspects of their traditional identity
much at risk before a certain panic seizes them at the throat and they
then plunge everything into reverse gear (with the blessings of highly
reactionary elements, of course).
One might ask, though futilely, what the circumstances of the Palestinians
would be today if 10 years ago, before the defeated insurrection and the
walking bombs, they had decided to behave like a radical working class.
I just don't expect anything good to happen in that part of the world.
I hope I'm wrong.
valis
