Winegard Lecturer presents a case against cultural imperialism
On Monday Jan. 27, the 2014 Winegard Visiting Lectureship on “The Situation in the Middle East Today” was held in Rozanski Hall. Michael Bell, seasoned Canadian diplomat and long-time ambassador to the Middle East, gave the talk.
Bell currently co-chairs the Jerusalem Old City Initiative at the University of Windsor, where he is also the Paul Martin (Sr.) Senior Scholar on International Diplomacy. Bell has also worked as High Commissioner to Cyprus, an arms inspector for the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq, acted as the Canadian representative to the Palestinians, and spent 16 years as the Canadian ambassador to Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, respectively.
His lecture was, as he said at the outset, “not a happy story,” one highlighting the gap between the normative ideals and realistic goals available to the Middle East today.
Bell began by looking at the concept of Orientalism, arguing that our historic memory of the Middle East is built on “defining oneself via the Other.” The fact that Westerners are inclined to see “democracy as a natural course” in the Middle East is a kind of “misplaced idealism” that is also a result of these “imagined identities.” Seeing things as they are, he said, versus seeing them how we want it to be, will result in two different outcomes.
In this fashion, the exaggerated idea espoused by those in power in the West, is that Arabs “want what we have in the West.” It is belief stemming from neo-conservatives such as Leo Strauss, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney and George Bush – those who Bell called “Platonists.”
Under this assumption, the perceived “Arab backwardness can be redeemed through American imperialism.” Because the Middle East is vital to U.S. interests, “the U.S. will justify using force to help [the Arabs] ‘understand.’” But in reality, argued Bell, American exceptionalism is nothing more than “U.S. arrogance.”
What is more disconcerting is that the cultural imperialism imposed by the Americans in Iraq has not only resulted in fragmentation within the broken structures of society, it has, said Bell, “given rise to Islamic radicalization.” Many who hold power in the Middle East believe “political Islam is the solution to societal ills,” and that “Sharia Islamic Religious law offers an over-riding path to all aspects of human life.”
Bell’s solution to this problem is cultural pluralism – where groups in society co-exist with one another, side by side.
To facilitate this process, Bell advocated supporting the Obama administration’s reconciliation efforts in the Middle East, boosting microfinance programs that allow women to take “control of their own lives,” and supporting multilateral programs that “put individuals first.”
In essence, “we need to un-cloud our own narratives,” said Bell, for “we have an obligation to not let problems in the Middle East continue.”
Good write-up. I certainly love this site. Thanks!