The power of cheeseburgers:
dailytimes.com.pk
Op-ed: Understanding American hegemony today
Farish A Noor
American hegemony today has been gained not by the force of arms but by the greasy, tasteless, chemically-modified cheeseburger that we stuff down our throats as we shout our muffled obscenities against an imperial power that has colonised our hearts, minds and even our stomachs
These days, talk is rife about the growing ascendancy of American military and political power. Critics of American unilateralism have argued that what we are witnessing is nothing short of the rise of a global hegemon with limitless ambitions. But it is not just the academics and political analysts who are saying that: Down to the man in the street, there is a perceptible sense of apprehension and foreboding of what is to come. In the eyes of many, we are witnessing the birth of the new American Empire.
This was conveyed to me most explicitly while I witnessed a gathering of Muslim students in the Netherlands recently. During the meeting, the students — many of whom were of North African and Arab descent — spoke of the danger of American imperialism and what it holds for the Arab world in particular. They felt little inclination to hold back their anger and frustration against what they saw as the bellicose and arrogant posturing of this arriviste power that seemed to think of itself as the master of the world. They condemned what they regarded as the cultural, economic and political imperialism of the US, which gave few opportunities for other voices to speak out. And most of all, they balked at the thought of the Arab countries being perpetually under the heels of big brother USA.
But the very same Arab and North African students who could only spit bile and venom at the “Great Satan” from across the Atlantic could not see the contradiction in their own situations. Many of them came from Muslim families that had, after all, emigrated to the West and left their Arab-Muslim homelands far behind. They spoke the languages of the West — English, French, Dutch — better than the mother tongue of their parents. And most of all, in terms of their sartorial outlook and appearance, they were thoroughly westernised by any standards. The same young boys who spoke of vengeance against the United States were drinking Coca Cola, eating American hamburgers, wore T-shirts with “Nike” written on them, and played the same video games and watched the same movies as their American teenage counterparts. Had they been born white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant (which is, after all, a mere accidental variable factor) would they hold the same sentiments still?
Watching these angry young Muslim men preach the downfall of America while consuming everything it has to offer should tell us one thing: That the concept of American hegemony is far more complex and confounding than it really is.
Hegemony, lest we forget, is a concept that is multi-layered and composite. One should not reduce the concept of hegemony to only one obvious aspect: Militarism. While it is true that every single empire in the past has maintained its stranglehold on its foreign dominions by force of arms, it is also true that weapons alone cannot win the battle for hearts and minds. Nor can any imperial dominion be held together and kept stable with the threat of force and violence alone. As Napoleon once said: “One can build a throne of swords, but one cannot sit on it”.
Hegemony works only when it operates on a number of different and complimentary registers. Aside from the use of arms, there has to be the all-important ideological war to win the support and acquiescence of the defeated and subjugated. This is why during the height of western imperial expansion during the 19th century, the cardinal idea of “western civilisation” was of paramount importance. It was not enough for countries like Britain, France and Holland to rule other nations and peoples. They also had to convince the colonised that their colonisation was for their own good, so that they could be uplifted from the cultural morass and decline they had fallen into; and so that they could be taught the meaning of progress, which was then defined in clearly euro-centric terms.
Western imperialism succeeded the most in those countries where the people were not only defeated militarily, but also psychologically. As the elites and common masses of the South fell for the all-encompassing western idea, they began to look down on their own past, their identities and their achievements. Having laid waste to the cultural and historical patrimony of their colonised peoples, the western colonisers were quick to take control of their governments, economies and societies as well. As the Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldun pointed out in his “Muqadimmah”, it is when a people begin to imitate the ways of their conquerors and look down on themselves that they have really lost the battle.
Today, much of the Muslim world and the developing South is caught in such a state of decline. Muslim leaders talk about the perils of western imperialism, yet how many Arab leaders have rushed to the doorsteps of the White House as soon as they have a quarrel with their neighbours? Arab governments condemn American and western intrusion into their regional political affairs, but at the same time squander the wealth of their countries on pointless arms races (while buying American and western arms, mind you) and turn to Uncle Sam to settle their differences. And young Arab boys can scream and shout till they are hoarse against the evils of America, but would be first in line at the local American fast-food restaurant, or rush to buy the latest CD by the hottest American gangsta-rapper. Millions of Muslims condemn America to hell, but eat, drink, dress, drive and think American even more than some Americans themselves.
This, then, is the real success of American hegemony today. More than any other weapon in its massive arsenal of weapons of mass destruction; more than all the aircraft carriers and battleships it can put together; more than all the jet fighters and stealth bombers it can marshal to the heavens; more than all the regiments of its marines and paratroopers that it can land on our shores; American hegemony today has been gained not by the force of arms but by the greasy, tasteless, chemically-modified cheeseburger that we stuff down our throats as we shout our muffled obscenities against an imperial power that has colonised our hearts, minds and even our stomachs. And if this be the case, who have we to blame, save ourselves? |
