Customer Reviews

Why They Don't Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil

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Mark LeVine, who is a professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, Culture and Islamic Studies at the University of California, Irvine wants to champion what he calls "cultural jamming" as a means to bridge the cultural abyss between the Middle East and the West.

I think this idea has a certain appeal since cultural jamming is the practice of satirizing the power structure. It can be a force for understanding between the Middle East and the West, but primarily it is a force against established power, whether eastern or western. It is a natural product of the young, who do not yet have much power, but who will indeed have power in the future. So I am in sympathy with LeVine's enthusiasm; however as young people become older and take on the responsibilities of their societies and weld the power, will they not become the satirized?

One of the points Levine makes early in this ambitious book is that the narrow-minded, fundamentalist culture of e.g., Kansas, is similar to the narrow-minded, fundamentalist culture of the jihadis. In a broad sense the fundamentalist Christians of America and the fundamentalist Muslims of the Middle East are just opposite sides of the same intolerant, ignorant coin. They both believe that they have the one real God on their side, and regard people who believe differently as going to straight to hell.

Consequently, LeVine's conclusion that "they" don't hate "us" because there really is no monolithic "they" or "us" is technically correct. Generalizations that pigeonhole people are always wrong except as handy ways to talk. The so-called "culture" of the West with its McFoods, its NASCAR races, its mindless TV, its "football," its Hollywood movies and its gross commercialization is really just the commercial culture of America. The real culture of America is much more complex and includes a plethora of subcultures from blue blooded New Englanders living on inherited wealth to Spanish-speaking illegal aliens who work in our fields and kitchens. It includes Harvard graduates and burger-flippers; blue states and red; people who believe in democracy and the separation of church and state, and evangelicals who are waiting anxiously for the Rapture. It includes the legacy of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and Al Capone, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, atheists and true believers, Nobel Prize winners and Paris Hilton. It includes millions of Muslims as well as Christians of every stripe, Buddhists and Hindus, Midwesterners, Southerners, Californians and people who have never left North Dakota.

American culture, as crass as it often is, is not the villain. The use of military power exclusively for perceived American interests, and the economic exploitation of less developed nations is what is causing a lot of pain in the world today, and is what justifiably could cause others to hate us. Invading Iraq and causing the death of tens of thousands of Iraqis and the suffering of millions more, is what fosters hatred. Artificially supporting our rich and massive agribusinesses so that Third World farmers can't compete also engenders hatred.

But a lot of the hatred is a legacy of colonialism. Only time will heal those wounds.

Still, there are cultural differences in the aggregate that must be understood and appreciated before the twain of the Middle East and the West can harmoniously meet. Education in the West and particularly in the US is based not on the Qu'ran, as it is in Muslim countries (nor on the Bible), but upon secular histories and the authority not of religious leaders who interpret holy books, but on scientific authority. There is separation of church and state in the West while in Muslim countries typically it is believed that political power comes properly from God and not from the people. While in the West we may be persuaded to think of the Middle East as backward and even evil, that is not part of the classroom instruction. However, a denigration of Western ideas and institutions is part and parcel of Islamic education where the focus is tightly on the teaching of the Qu'ran. We only have that sort of narrow focus in our more conservative religious schools.

These are real cultural differences. When everyone in Saudi Arabia has as much chance to secure a decent living as a Saudi prince, when Iranians can listen without fear to Western music, when Palestinians are represented by politicians that are really working for their benefit instead of playing out revenge scenarios, when the oil profits benefit the people as a whole and not just the ruling classes (or special interests in the West)--in short when everybody has a greater stake in the societies, there will be a lot less hatred, and cultural differences will be seen in a more benign light.

One final thing: LeVine wants the US to declare a truce with Muslim countries. (See page 330 and following.) But even though I agree that the US's "war on terror" is at best a misnomer and at worse a crusade, I don't think declaring a truce makes any sense at all. We are not at war with Islam or Muslims or Muslim countries. To declare a truce would falsely say that we were. Also a declaration that we have sinned in the past (colonialism, etc.) and now apologize is of limited value. We can apologize for the slaughter of Native Americans, for enslaving Africans, even for killing of the Neanderthal if we like. And I suppose Muslims could apologize for forcing innumerable peoples to embrace Islam or else. I don't like any of that sort of thing because I, in particular, enslaved nobody and killed nary a Native American. I cannot apologize for those who did.

What is needed is a declaration of intent to not exploit others or otherwise do nasty things to them. That's what LeVine ought to be calling for.

Globalization is a very popular topic these days and innumerable publications have appeared which either celebrate it as nothing short of a revolution which produces wealth and brings people closer together or, at the other end of the spectrum, demonize it as a destructive monster which burns everything in its path. Levine takes on this controversial topic in a book which consists of three parts. The first is mainly devoted to setting up the stage for the rest of book and to placing it into the current often ideological discourse about globalization.
In the second part the author analyzes the deep historical roots of globalization, especially its relations to what he calls the modernity matrix (modernity, imperialism/colonialism, capitalism and nationalism), which puts the phenomenon in perspective within the broader historical theater. LeVine chooses a holistic approach which does not reduce globalization to a mere economic phenomenon, but, rather, illuminates its cultural and political as well as its economic components. It shows, based on official data by organizations like the IMF and the World Bank, that even the self-proclaimed successes of globalizations actually benefit both a minority of countries and minorities within those countries themselves.
The author's ability to connect the dots between long time historical processes and their daily life micro-manifestations, especially in Middle Eastern and North African countries confers the book a 'humanity' which does usually not characterize academic analyses. A humanity which is also at the core of LeVine's courageous approach to the topic and its many implications.
The third and last part of the book is devoted to the global peace and justice movement and culminates in a manifesto of its goals and strategies (according to the author) for a successful future. The author's point of view and perspective is never concealed throughout the book and, even though the author certainly takes a side, its historical analysis remains sober and matter-of-factual.

The book is written in a fluid and pleasant style and is a must read for both supporters and opponents of globalization alike.

This book gives a very different view from the one we get in a lot of the media - and everyone should read it, especially journalists! In a very gripping way, Mark Levine takes readers on a personal guided tour of the Arab world and into the Muslim mindset, and challenges the view that all Muslims are anti-American. Or that there is a single "Muslim" view of the world. A real eye-opener, and a very good read.

This book is extremely interesting. I was able to learn so many things that I had never known before. It is extremely important for people to learn about the cultures of others before we judge. I am very happy I bought this book and would suggest you read it as well. I'm hopeful the author writes more books because he has great insight and the courage to speak his mind.

If you're ready to be challenged regarding Middle East generalizations and so-called virtues of globalism, this book is mandatory reading.

Mark LeVine, an American Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California, Irvine, has written a most misleading book on modern capitalism (`globalisation'), reflecting the global peace and justice movement's anarchism.

He occasionally glimpses the reality of empire. He cites the Pentagon's Defense Science Board, which contradicted Bush by saying, "they do not hate our freedom, they hate our policies." He sees that chaos is not an accidental by-product of occupying foreign countries but assists the occupiers' strategic goals - profits, oil and repression - and he recognises that occupations are brutal, corrupt and incompetent.

He cites a World Bank study that concluded, "faster growth among the poor may indeed be obtained at the expense of slower growth among the rich", that there is `no evidence ... of mutually beneficial policies' and "At least in the short run, globalization appears to increase poverty and inequality." He also notes a United Nations Development Programme Report that summed up, "Trade openness (liberalisation) increased poverty and inequality ... Those countries liberalising most rapidly fared worst."

Yet after all this evidence, LeVine claims that culture not economics drives capitalism. So he claims, "Only building bridges between cultures can provide the chance to overcome both occupation and the violence it breeds." This bridge-building, he writes, gives the leading role to intellectuals - a little self-serving, one might think. He goes on, "if we can ... compose a truly world music - we can break down (`deconstruct', as some philosophers might say) the `iron cage' of neoliberalism". This is utopian drivel.

The `global peace and justice movement' pretends that working classes' struggles to seize state power from capitalist classes are old-fashioned, chauvinist and unnecessary. Yet he had cited World Bank President James Wolfensohn's praise of Cuba in 2001: "Cuba has done a great job on education and health." Cuba has continued to progress because its policies, based on class and nation, are the opposite of the Bank's policies and also of the movement's policies.
What success has the movement ever had that justifies rejecting the successful Cuban method of class struggle and revolution? By contrast, as LeVine admits, quoting voices like Susan George - "We haven't actually won anything" and Naomi Klein - "We have in no way reversed the flow towards privatization, let alone stopped it", the movement has never succeeded anywhere.

The main conflict in the world is not Islam against the West, but neither is it neoliberalism against the `global peace and justice movement'; it is class against class, within each nation, and each nation must solve its own problems.

The `global peace and justice movement' is a diversion, a waste of time and energy. Its members need to get jobs, if they haven't already, and join their trade union. Workers, including white-collar workers, are the majority in every country, and only the working class can defeat capitalism.

I guess 9/11 was their way of saying "Hi, How are you?"

He suggests that fundamental Christians are the same as fundamental muslims in that they both believe in their religion, their god and all others are going to hell.

Well, unless I'm not paying attention, I haven't really noticed devout christians strapping bombs onto their children and sending them onto a crowded bus. Christian schools also don't teach their children growing up that killing jews and muslims will send them to heaven.

He also suggests that America call for a truce with the Muslim countries. This could be an idea, however, we have truces with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt to name a few and that doesn't seem to stop any of these terrorists. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Making peace with them hasn't stopped Bin Laden from waging war.

This book is a joke. The only reason I gave it 1 star is because they wouldn't let me give it 0.