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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chalu2 who wrote (15529)	6/24/2002 1:46:34 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23908

chalu2: I am definitely a real person,as opposed to a robot!:)Westi

To: chalu2 who wrote (15529)	6/24/2002 10:04:20 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 23908

From Marseilles to Jenin: Have the Arabs become the West's new Jews? dailystar.com.lb Excerpt: Now, at the start of the 21st century, the same conditions that gave rise to fascism in Europe are being reproduced. It is these conditions that facilitated the rapid rise of the far-right in France (Le Pen), Austria (Joerg Haider), Italy (Umberto Bossi), Denmark (Pia Kjærsgaard), and the Netherlands (Pim Fortuyn). The far-right is on the march even in some parts of Britain. This rebirth of the far-right is being facilitated by the mind-boggling speed with which globalization is gathering pace, helped along by the engine of the IT revolution. Such profound and rapid change has made it impossible for nation-states to ensure the security and prosperity their citizens have come to expect of them. Add to this the atmosphere of violence and uncertainty introduced by the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, and you have the ideal soil for the birth and growth of a new fascism. These factors seem to indicate that the Le Pen phenomenon in France and other similar fascist phenomena that are occurring in other parts of Europe are not transient in nature. They are instinctive populist responses to the threat posed by globalization, with all its associated insecurities, instabilities and fears. And since fascism has turned out to be the populist response to globalization, the Arab world is feeling edgy because of what is taking place in Europe and the possibility of the rise of homegrown Arab fascist anti-globalization movements. By calling for the incarceration of Arab immigrants in "transit camps," holding them responsible for all of France's economic and social ills, and telling his followers that French colonialism will soon be back in the Arab world in the guise of "Mediterranean civilization," Le Pen is sowing the seeds of new breeds of radical and belligerent Arab nationalist and/or Islamic fundamentalist movements. When ordinary Arabs listen to American and European analysts calling for understanding the underlying reasons behind fascism, dealing with the fascist phenomenon through strengthening democracy, and solving the problems of minorities in order to ease the integration of Europeans into the globalized world, they cannot be blamed for asking why the problems of the Arab world are not addressed with the same rationale. European fascists, together with Christian fundamentalists, Jews, and extreme right-wing Republicans in the United States, are using fears of Arabs and Arab terrorism as a battle cry to achieve national consensus or to stress the nationalist nature of nation-states in the face of a globalized world. Yet it is the Arabs who are scared. Instead of rational understanding and democratic solutions, the Arab world is being increasingly seen in black and white, a region to be subdued by force. Instead of facilitating the integration of the Arab peoples into the globalized world (primarily by addressing their grievances in Palestine and their demands for a place for the pan-Arab nation under the globalized sun), what the West is cooking up are more wars and odious plans designed to fragment the region into small tribal and sectarian entities that can easily be controlled by Israel. The French "transit camps" in which Le Pen is calling for Arabs to be incarcerated are exactly the same as the strategic and cultural "camps" American and Israeli extremists are demanding in the Middle East. The only difference between the two is one of numbers: While Le Pen plans to cage only 3 million Arabs, Bush-Sharon want to incarcerate 300 million. Another difference is this: While the current right-wing European rebellion against globalization might eventually help bring about a new capitalist European identity that can successfully make the transition from nation-state to nation-continent, continued alienation of the Arab world from the march of globalization and the deliberate use of force to settle all its problems will only lead to more extremism and violence. This will definitely not be to the advantage of Europe, which has to keep the facts of demography in mind: While Europe's population is rapidly ageing, there is a great demographic explosion taking place on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. Even if France managed to get rid of its 3 million to 5 million Arabs, it will not be long before it will have to deal with tens of millions of (both legal and illegal) Arab migrants who will flock to Europe either because of dire economic conditions in their native countries or because of the manpower needs of European firms. It is therefore much better for Europe, while trying to come to terms with globalization, to help its Arab neighbors come to terms with it as well if only to avoid being swamped by Le Pen's proverbial "invading hordes." While the United States seems immune to this Arab/Muslim demographic time bomb (it has a Latin American one to contend with), it might have to contend with something infinitely worse: the transplantation of nonglobalized Middle Eastern chaos to US shores through terrorism. The least the Americans should expect is a disruption of their economic and strategic interests in the Middle East. The world (including the Arab world) is warily waiting for the results of the French elections next month and in June. The Arabs more than anyone else will be angered and dismayed to see their compatriots (everywhere from Marseilles to Jenin) turning into the new Jews of the West. Anger and dismay make for an extremely combustible mixture. Saad Mehio is a Lebanese journalist and writer. He wrote this comment for The Daily Star