Prologue
3. Three identities in
the Middle East
From now on, I will follow the history of
the Middle East for 70 years after the war according to my own opinion. I think
that there are three identities in the Middle East. The first one is
"blood" identity. The second is the "religious" identity.
And the last one is "ideology” identity. I will frequently refer these
three identities in each chapter. I, therefore, would like to briefly explain
hereof.
Firstly, "blood" identity is a
biological identity, contemporary, called as DNA. This is given naturally when
we were born as a human being. The identity of "blood" is "race".
The largest race in the Middle East is "Arab", but in the Middle East
some other ethnic groups such as the Turkish and Persian ethnicity coexist (Although there is the definition
of "Jewish", but Jewish can not be said to be "race" in
biological meaning).
The ethnicity, namely race, is a rather big
concept. Blood relationship connect each other.The closest blood relationship
is parent and child, brothers and sisters, which is called "family".
If you expand to relationships such as uncle, aunt, cousin, etc, it will be
"relatives". When covers distant relatives, it will be "clan".
Furthermore, "tribe" overwhelming "clans", and eventually
reaching the "ethnic" category.
In a modern society where urbanization has
progressed, as described by the word "nuclear family", nowadays, the
connection of blood is limited in family members or relatives. "Clan"
or "tribe" is almost absolute. The word "ethnic group",
which is the biggest concept, is still frequently used today, but it is often
used as a political slogan. On the other hand, in the Middle East (especially
among the Arab peoples) not only the top powerful persons but also ordinary
citizens use widely the identity of this "blood".
The identity of "blood" is a
congenital one inherited as DNA, too, but on the other hand, the identity of
"religion” and "ideology" gets acquired after his berth.
Regarding religion in the Middle East,
Islam has overwhelming influence. Not only Arab ethnic groups, but also Turkish
people and Persian races are mostly Islamic Muslims. Of course, in the Middle
East there are Christian believers such as the Egyptian Coptic or Jewish
country Israel, too. Both Muslims, Christianity and Judaism have a common character
of monotheism. They are Abrahamic religion. But because of that reason there is
a long history of struggling each other and hatred. Especially the
confrontation between the Islamic states and the Jewish state Israel cannot be foreseen
the future.
In addition, Islam in modern Middle East
has a confrontation between Sunni and Shiite sects. Furthermore even among Sunni
there are conflicts between fundamentalist and moderate. Needless to say, the
conflict is common in religious fields not only Islam but also Christianity.
Look at the religious war between Catholic and Protestant in Middle Ages. But
in the Middle East where the modern Western Europe civilization has penetrated,
the conflict of religion is still a big problem and even sharpened in the
modern age of globalization that the Internet has developed.
The third identity is political or economic
ideology with principle and assertion. After being relieved from the bondage of
religion in Western Europe in Middle Ages, the conflict of ideology has
appeared. Through the era of Industrial Revolution and mercantilism, ideology
has transformed into capitalism. In the historical process, inequality of
wealth distribution became a problem. The socialism and communism ideology have
spread globally.
The appearance of the Soviet Socialist
Federation (Soviet Union) by the Russian Revolution had spread socialism
worldwide. Western capitalism and Soviet socialism originally had mutually incompatible
nature. But in order to combat the totalitarianism of Nazis in Germany, they
fought together to overthrow Nazism. And World War II was over. As soon as war
is over, US-led West alliance conflicted sharply with Soviet-led East alliance.
It was called "the Cold War era". Even if we call it "the Cold
War", in fact, hot wars as surrogate wars by both side occurred allover the
world. The Middle East has also become one of the battle front. Before
liberated from the spell of religious Islam, the Middle East has caught up in
the ideological war. This has expanded the disorder moreover.
I would like to consider again the order of
time series between "blood", "religion" and "ideology".
"Blood" is inherent and genetically native as DNA. In comparison,
"religion" and "ideology" are acquired after berth. In most
cases, "religion" sticks to children during uninhibited childhood.
Christian babies are baptized, and Muslim babies grow up hearing lullaby of the
prayer words "Azan" from the mosque. In contrast, "ideology” is
imprinted into the brains of individuals through education (especially through higher
education). In other words, these three elements are taken in order beginning
with congenital "blood", then "religion", and "Ideology"
in the last. This is a natural order.
Looking at the national level, the ethnic
nation, the religious states and ideological states of capitalism or socialism
appears from time to time. In Western Europe three identities have appeared separately
in history with a considerable time span. They never appeared simultaneously.
However, in the Middle East three identities have been appeared in parallel in
the short history of 70 years after World War II. Disorder and tragedy in the
Middle East were born in such circumstance. This is what I want to say.
(To be continued ----)
By Areha Kazuya
E-mail: Arehakazuya1@gmail.com
Home Page: OCIN
INITIATIVE
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