‘O, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!’
Walter Scott (Marmion 1808)
Western psychohistory generates a complicated web of what becomes self-deception. But Western sceptics seeking justice also become entrapped in this. Western received history portrays the West as active and the rest of the wold as reactive or victims. This often misreads the dynamic of history and takes away agency from others.
While many of us are appalled and outraged by the suffering of the people of Gaza, let that not blind us to similar behaviour by Arabs. The Arab invasion and conquest of Egypt was followed by the displacement of the indigenous population into specific areas of the country, ‘out of sight’, who became second class citizens. There followed the attempt to erase their history.
Many forget that Arab Egyptians (post-600AD) engaged in cultural genocide. Arab rulers were devotedly anti-African even to the wild attempt to flatten the Pyramids. Al-Aziz Uthamn, son of Saladin, tried to erase all african presence by eliminating the Pyramids. Contrast that with Napoleon who brought with him on his invasion his best scholars. Ancient Egyptian language did not naturally die out. Coptic (the late version of ancient Egyptian) was forbidden to be taught in schools clearly with the intention to destroy the language as a living language. Arabs engage in cultural and ethnic oppression of their African population who are cleansed to non-tourist areas. To add insult to injury, the Arabs in defence of Palestinians do not hesitate to engage in mass anti-African racism such as in Kenya. There they killed over 200 Africans in order to attack a handful of Jews.1
If Arab Egyptians genuinely thought they had any cultural or ethnic connection with ancient Egypt they would not have courses in ancient Egyptian taught in the Ministry of Tourism, rather than as part of the people’s history! However Arab Egyptians use ancient Egyptian history to seek a primary role for themselves among Arab nations!
Portraying Arabs solely as victims of the West makes interpreting the behaviour of present day Arab rulers and elites incomprehensible. It also obscures the patterns of history and blowback.
Many will find acknowledging that Arabs engaged in cultural genocide, oppression and enslavement, and their widespread celebration of sex slavery of white European women, difficult and a distraction. Many will say ‘that was all in the past, let that alone!’ But there is the nub! Is it past or do Arab rulers continue cultural genocide and oppression? Are we so sure they do not continue sex slavery?
Frantz Fanon was embarassed when met by a delegation of African natives of North Africa. They praised Fanon for his defence of the rights of Arab Algerians, but what of the native population that these Arabs themselves oppressed? What does Fanon offer them?
Standard Marxism has deep racist roots coming out of Hegel and Kant’s deeply racist eschatology which centres agency in Western man. Wulf D Hund among others, has documented the depth of this racism in Western thought, both in economics and sociology as well as philosophy.2 3 4 5
Neither the West nor Germany has any monopoly on evil or virtue. As Terence Afer (Terence the African) stated: ‘I am a man, nothing human is alien to me.’
Evil has no nationality. We must fight it wherever it rears its ugly head.
Endnotes
1. (Burke, 2015)
2. (Hund, 2014)
3. (Hund et al., 2011)
4. (Norden, 2017)
5. (alpert, 2020)
REFERENCES
alpert, avram. (2020, September 24). Racism is baked into the structure of dialectical philosophy – Avram Alpert | Aeon Essays. Aeon. https://aeon.co/essays/racism-is-baked-into-the-structure-of-dialectical-philosophyBurke, J. (2015, January 20). Africa embassy bombings: Attacks that propelled Bin Laden into the limelight. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/20/africa-embassy-bombings-osama-bin-laden-kenya-tanzania-al-qaida
Hund, W. D. (2014). Racism in white sociology: From Adam Smith to Max Weber. In Racism and Sociology (pp. 23–67). Lit Verlag.
Hund, W. D., Koller, C., & Zimmerman, M. (Eds.). (2011). Racisms Made in Germany. Lit Verlag.
Norden, B. W. V. (2017, October 31). Why the Western philosophical canon is xenophobic and racist – Bryan W Van Norden | Aeon Essays. Aeon. https://aeon.co/essays/why-the-western-philosophical-canon-is-xenophobic-and-racist
17 April 2024