LOUIS EA MOYSTON

Recent reports in the newspapers carried a warning from Iran's president regarding "the clashing of civilisations". He was responding to a statement made by the Italian prime minister advancing the idea of superiority of Western civilisation over Islam. The statement elicited a response that has brought to the fore a possible new meaning to global relations. Is the idea by the Iranian president far-fetched? Not at all, in the early 1990s, Samuel P Huntington in his articles and book, The clashing of civilisations and the remaking of the world order, said world politics was entering into a new phase and the principal conflicts would be cultural. "The clashing of civilisations will be the battle line for the future."

Since these revelations, there have been noticeable trends of increasing "cultural" conflicts. This has been taking place from Central America to the South East of Asia and Europe. Professor Huntington is reliable in his assessment. In earlier decades, he was part of the developmental school advancing the idea that post-colonial territories could develop along the lines of western powers in order to escape the wretchedness of underdevelopment and disorder. This did not work. Not only were some areas developing without becoming westernised but also the entire idea underpinning the approach was historical. After examining the failure of the old approach, Prof Huntington and others associated with the cross-cultural approach to theory and methodology generated new knowledge helping us to make sense of the West against the Rest.

It is important to note the concerns of the non-West worlds. The West has never been accommodating to other cultures and civilisations. In recent times, we witnessed the annexation of an area of Iraq cutting that country off for the power of the ocean with the formation of Kuwait. Similarly, Ethiopia, another old "civilisation" was cut off from the sea by way of annexation of the coastal land to form Eritrea. These are examples of the West's effort to arrest the development of the old cultures in recent times. There are blatant cases of the destruction of cultures and civilisations in Africa, the Americas and parts of Asia. In Africa, the collaboration of the main western powers in support of western civilisation occurred by way of interference into the African independence movements from destabilising countries to the assassination of nationalist leaders. These and previous efforts have not been able to destroy ideas that have been built over thousands of years. Old empires are rising out of the ashes of the past. The speech by the Italian prime minister resurrected the spectre of Mussolini.

After a meeting with counterparts in Germany, Silvio Berlusconi declared the superiority of western civilisation. "We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rights and -- in contrast with Islamic countries -- respect for religious and political rights...at its core, as its greatest value, freedom, which is not the heritage of Islamic order." (The Gleaner, 8/9/01). In responding to this charge, the president of Iran made a cautious but instructive reply, that "evil hands" are "trying to take advantage of the sensitive situation and cause confrontation between Islam and other beliefs". According to the report, the president of Iran is concerned that the latest crisis would be heading for a "clashing of civilizations". What is this idea of the clashing of civilizations?

Like Berlusconi, one educator, Donald Kagan, in Western values are central, advances the idea of superiority of the West. "Western culture and institutions are the most powerful paradigm in the world...at its core is tolerance and respect for diversity unknown to most cultures. (New York Times, 4/5/91). This statement is not only misleading, it is dangerous. Contrary to this thinking, Samuel Huntington sees a real world with competing cultures. He sees the conflict as real because of the rising of old civilisations that have no intentions of going away. It is important to examine some of the assumptions made by Huntington as he searches for a new paradigm to explain and predict contemporary global relations. In the past ideology, political and economic categories were used to group countries. Today, countries will be increasingly categorised in terms of culture and civilisation. The differences among civilisations are basic -- involving history, culture, religion and language. As the world is getting "smaller", the interactions intensify civilisation consciousness. Economic and social changes are separating people from their long-standing local identities. Religion in the form of fundamentalism, by and large, has emerged to fill the gap. There are Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Islamic fundamentalists. And finally, as the West speaks of its peak in development of its power, this idea is being challenged by "a return to roots" phenomenon in non-Western powers.

The Iranian president is not at all off target. Like Huntington, he has not accepted that the clash is on. He is mindful that the clash is coming. For the West, it will have to develop a new approach characterised by the accommodation of non-western cultures and civilisations. According to Huntington, "For the relevant future, there will be no universal civilisation." The West will have to settle and deal with the Rest as equals because cultures forged thousand of years ago are not willing at the beginning of the 21st century, to turn over and die.

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