Printer-Friendly
THE STILLBIRTH OF PAN ARABISM There are those who say the pan-Arab ideal never really existed – that notion that there is one Arab people stretching from western Africa to Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. The farce that the Arab League has become certainly suggests pan-Arabism is non-existent in 2004. Some 30-40 years ago Syria and Egypt even went as far as to establish a super republic in their bid to create some form of Arabic unified nation. However, as time unfolded it was clear that effort, and the wider pan-Arabism, were most probably merely attempts by individual leaders to exert control beyond their own nation’s borders. No wonder, therefore, that this never worked. While there have been occasional incursions by one Arab army into the territory of another, most noticeably of late of Iraqi troops into Kuwait and the ongoing hostilities in the Western Sahara, there has been little real power play between Arab states since the region gained independence from the various conquering empires over the last 100 years. If pan-Arabism is merely empire building by individual leaders, it is hardly surprising that the notion of pan-Arabism has never been embraced by the entire Arab world. After all, most leaders do not simply roll over as soon as a neighboring power knocks on the door. However, the lack of a basic ideal in this part of the world, such as democracy or communism, meant there has been a void that has needed filling. And it has. Enter pan-Islam. Islam is seemingly a power far greater. And, perhaps worryingly for individual leaders in the Arab world, it is a force far greater than them, whether they act separately or through some allegedly unifying body, such as the Arab League. That makes Islam an even more powerful force, because the leaders realize its strength is greater than their collective ability, and as a result, they embrace it, at least publicly. Look at Egypt as a good example. The state President Hosni Mubarak is well aware that the imams wield far more power than the lawmakers. He also realizes that many Muslim opposition forces would gladly see his removal from office. As a result he has to implement policies that shout on the one hand of respect for Islam and an encouragement of its dissemination, but also of a preparedness to take on Islamic insurgents, more out of a sense of fear than out of a desire to control. While pan-Arabism stops at national frontiers, if it ever really existed, pan-Islam is sweeping across the world at an incredibly fast pace. One in every six people on earth is Muslim. It is a philosophical phenomenon far greater than any other on the planet, and there are no signs on the horizon suggesting that will change. By David Zev Harris on Sunday, May 23, 2004