The Peace on The Horizon - 70 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East (19)

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)



Chapter 2 Global wave – The end of colonial era and the emerging two super powers



2-5(19)　Arab world having no credit for ideology

The three Western military alliances - NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) and CENTO (Central East Treaty Organization, originally called METO or Baghdad Convention) were anti-communism military allies against the USSR. The USSR was completely surrounded by the US from the west end to the east end of its territory in the Eurasian Continent. It was a containment policy for the USSR. The US feared that after the World War II socialist and communist ideology would penetrate whole world overwhelmingly.

The United States named this policy as "Domino theory". Once the revolution took place and a communist regime was born in the neighboring country of the USSR, it might spread quickly one after another. It was "Domino theory" that communism infiltrates globally like a domino game. The wall of unti- communism materialized in the military alliance of NATO, CENTO and SEATO. The US seriously worried that US itself would be influenced by a communist ideology. The storm of "Red Scare" commonly named McCarthyism was blown in the US under the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC).




Despite the suppression by Western countries especially by the United States, communist governments were born around the world. However, communism got few powers in the Middle East except two countries. One was in Iran by Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh and Tudeh Party during 1951 and 1952. Prime Minister Mossadegh nationalized the oil industries, but the government was fallen down shortly by the anti-revolutionary coup of the Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Another one was in Yemen where People’s Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) became independent in 1967. But it was integrated with Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) in 1990.

Industrial Revolution which was started in Europe in 18^th century segregated capitalists from workers. Social discrepancy has widened between capitalists who monopolize production means and workers who have only labor force. The workers group stood up against the capitalist armed with socialism and communism ideology. There is a famous passage at the beginning of The Communist Manifest written by Carl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848. It says "A ghost is haunting Europe – the ghost of communism”. In the 20th century, communism became a real regime, not as a virtual ghost.



In the Arab world, however, the industrial revolution hardly made progress even in urban areas. No segregation of social class has appeared because there was no industrial capitalist operating a large factory nor a large number of workers. It was the commercial capitalists of family business owners that grabbed the hegemony of the economy. There was little room for socialism and communism in the Arab world.



In today’s modern society there are three identities; “ideology”, "ethnicity" and “religion”. If three identities are compared human body, ideology, ethnicity and religion are brain, blood and heart respectively. Ethnicity and religion are stronger than ideology in the Middle East. Arab world has no credit for ideology.



There is another problem about the Arab nationalism. Arab nationalism forms a pillar of Pan-Arabism with socialism. But the concept of Arab is too wide to define ethnic group. Generally speaking, the ethnicity starts from family and then extends to relatives, clan, tribe and race. Race is the broadest concept of ethnicity. For an ordinary Arab, the tribe is the widest concept of ethnicity. They cannot understand the meaning of "Arab nationalism". Gamal Abdel Nasser who survived in the power struggle were obsessed with the idea of "glory of the Arab". He believed that the people could unanimously understand the political slogan of "Arab nationalism".



For the most of citizens who is living in the rural area were different from Nasser. They thought that the ethnicity meant the clan or tribe. Ordinary Arabs satisfied that Islam gives them a sense of unity. Such sense is still prevailing in today’s Arab world.



(To be continued ----)

By Areha Kazuya

E-mail: areha_kazuya@jcom.home.ne.jp

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