August 6, 2003
Postmodernism, Liberal Democracy and the
War in Iraq
A speech delivered April 25, 2003 by Dr. Vickramabahu
Karunarathne
at a seminar organized by the Centre for Islamic studies
at BMICH in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Dear friends and
comrades,
We have
tried to understand the motive behind this aggression (against Iraq). This
aggression has violated every aspect of international law, all conventions
of human rights. No UN charter could be used to defend this violent
intervention. Leaders of global capital suppressed all accepted norms in
this action.
So, let
me raise the question again, what is the moral and philosophical perspective
behind this aggression? American and British leaders said they are
intervening to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction, to capture
biological weapons. But today, hardly anybody could believe that. That is
why all of us here, of different political and religious beliefs, condemn
this action without hesitation. Many of us believe that the control of oil
resources is a reason for this attack. It appears to be an obvious motive.
But is there anything beyond? Is there any deeper motive behind this blatant
aggression?
I have
this news item from the APF. The head line says "For Bush, war makes room
for democratic messianism." The article goes on: " 'In Iraq, the world is
witnessing something dramatic and something important,' the president said
in St. Louis, Missouri last Wednesday. 'We are seeing the universal desire
in men and women to live in freedom. As Americans this should not surprise
us.' He stressed that the United States would not leave Iraq until a
democratic government was in place there, no matter how difficult this goal
might be." In other words the Bush administration has intervened to carry
out a democratic
revolution.
This
destruction of Iraq--destruction of identity, nationality, tradition,
history, pre-history and culture--is done in the name of democratizing Iraqi
society. They expect to pull the country out of backwardness to
post-modernity. It is not a wild joke but a serious statement. In order to
understand this thinking one has to study the Postmodernist philosophy that
drives them.
In 1992,
Francis Fukuyama put forward this rightwing Postmodernist philosophical
argument in his book The End of History and the Last Man. In it book
he writes "What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the cold war, or
the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of
history as such: That is the end point of mankind's ideological evolution
and the universalisation of Western liberal democracy as the final form of
human government." He further writes "that the state that emerges at the end
of history is liberal in so far as it recognizes and protects, through a
system of laws, man's universal right to freedom, and democratic in so far
as it exists only with the consent of the governed." Again he explains: "But
in the universal homogeneous state, all prior contradictions are resolved
and all human needs are satisfied. There is no struggle or conflict over
large issues and consequently no need for generals or statesmen. What
remains is primarily economic
activity."
Francis
Fukuyama claims that this condition will arise over-taking and pushing aside
all kinds of minor obstacles. Traditions, closed nationalist states,
religious structures, etc. will be brushed aside as the democratic
revolution proceeds. If these obstacles do not give way under
socio-political pressure by the trio of the World Bank, IMF and WTO,
aggressive action may arise. The centers of global capitalism will
eventually work out a way to go forward.
In general terms
this is the theory supported by the present leaders of global capital. Hence
there is nothing to be surprised about in this act of aggression against
Iraq. They appear to be prepared to crush all religious and national
diversity on earth to incorporate the whole world under market economy. With
that they appear to believe that the whole world can be transformed through
cyber technology. This is the philosophy behind the military aggression on
Iraq. They said they are interested in overthrowing an authoritarian state.
Actually what they did was to crack down on the traditions, identity and
culture of the Iraqi people. They are prepared to brush aside all moral and
ethical principles that could challenge their "rational scientific"
postmodernist revolution introduced from above. The destruction, the
suffering of the people, and the disruption of the society are all
sacrifices to be made for the postmodernist revolution.
Those who advocate
the liberal democratic "liberation" of Iraq are particularly against Muslim
tradition. It is accused of being an intolerant, patriarchic culture. I am
no believer in Allah nor a male chauvinist. But certainly, I suspect whether
the so-called "liberal democracy" stands for a tolerant feminist society.
There are two reasons for global capitalism to be against the influence of
Islam. Firstly, Islam opposes usury and money lending for an interest. This
is a challenge to the hub of the scheme of postmodernist capitalism. The
general method of exploitation and plunder of global capitalism is
through loans which are tied to strict socio-structural conditions. The IMF,
World Bank and WTO--the managerial trinity of global capitalism--rule the
world on that basis. They tend to control the world by pieces of paper that
indicate the details of interest payments. This is the basis of a new kind
of slavery.
However, my second observation is more important. Islam
stands for a strong community. Every Friday, all males are expected to come
together irrespective of their social status to kneel together in community
and brotherhood. No doubt this is a conservative patriarchic brotherhood.
But it is a challenge to the free, private individuality expected by the
market economy. Community, even in its most conservative form is an obstacle
to the postmodernist civil society. All forms of community traditions,
whether based on blood relations, social affinity or religious customs
should be eliminated for the proper advent of liberal democracy. If these
formations do not dissolve under the pressure of consumer society, then they
are to be destroyed by the terror of cyber technology. The cyber terror
unleashed in Iraq is unique not only for its precision, but also for the
scale of damage done to the material, cultural and communal existence of the
Iraqi people.
Are
people really free in this postmodernist, universal homogeneous state based
on the free market? The free market needs people as free individuals, free
of ancestral bonds, social commitments and cultural prohibitions. The
Postmodernist theory of human resource development claims that the more a
person is made free of various community influences, the more he will be
suitable for employment in the market economy. In other words, totally
alienated human beings are the requirement of liberal democracy.
Let me quote what
Marx said, 150 years ago, about such humans: "A society in which privileges
have been abolished and dissolved; a developed civil society where the
elements of existence which were politically fettered by privilege have been
freed…The slavery of civil society is, in the appearance the greatest
liberty…When in realty it is nothing but the expression of his absolute
enslavement and loss of his human nature…Civil society is only the mutual
conflict of all individuals who are no longer distinguished by anything but
their individuality…The basis of the modern state is civil society and the
individual of civil society. That is the individual whose only link with
other individuals is private interest."
Thus the free
individual of this so-called free society is a person made totally helpless.
A human being totally alienated from community is an object under the spell
of market forces. His economic existence within the consumer society is
without spirit or culture and dominated by an ever-increasing number of
gadgets: gadgets to see, gadgets to hear, gadgets to eat, etc.
In fact, the
Postmodernist philosopher Francis Fakuyama, too, is sad about this. He says:
"The end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition,
the willingness to risk one's life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide
ideological struggle which called forth daring courage, imagination and
idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of
technical problems, environmental concerns and the satisfaction of
sophisticated consumer demands. In the post historical period, there will be
neither art nor philosophy, just the perpetual care-taking of the museum of
human history." So not only the cyber terror unleashed on Iraqi people is to
be condemned, but also the very aim of liberal democratic messianism should
be rejected.
We have
to mobilize people the world over to challenge this Liberal Democratic
messianism which appears as the worst possible fundamentalism. Humanity was
born in community, hence postmodernist cyber terror cannot eliminate this
basic nature. In Iraq even the sect of Muslims, who were oppressed by the
Sadaam Hussein regime, condemned the American occupation in the very first
communal prayer session. People may come together in the name of Allah. But
community gathered and brotherhood created will be the real spirit that will
change the neo-barbarism of postmodernist "science and reason" based on
aggression. The cyber terror of global aggression will be countered by the
power of human community.
Published by:
New Left Front - NLF
17, Barracks Lane,
Colombo 02, Sri Lanka
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