serge waimann |
When the Berlin Wall fell I was only three years old and although still a child to hear and understand what was happening, now I can certainly feel the ripples of the crumble. This latest trend has sparked numerous theories, on the re emergence of regionalism, xenophobic ideals, tribalism, religion awakening and fundamentalism not to mention the effects of globalisation and how these unprecedented turn of events will unfold. From The Clash of Civilisations by S. P Huntington, to the Revenge of God, by G. Keppel and The West and The Rest by R. Scruton there is this growing sense of a deeper divide between the East and West. And as many politicians now speak out; “the present attack on our way of life” as T. Blair has repeatedly said in Parliament corroborated by G. Bush in Washington. On the surface one would find plenty of evidence to concur with such thesis by opening any news paper and reading about Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya just to mention a few hot spots. In one hand we boast that our liberal democracies should be the paradigm where by the rest of the world should aspire and emulate them. In the other hand these are the same democracies that now control economically and occupy directly or indirectly militarily every single oil producer nation in the Middle East with the exception of Iran, the democracies that have imposed their will and interests above all else regardless of general national and international opposition. Undoubtedly this geo-political strategy have generated a few decades of uninterrupted prosperity for the developed nations hindered on creating a slave labour camp in the developing nations from Congo to China. So, one must go back to the initial equation and ponder about the geo-politics dynamics of today; is there today a real threat, or clash between the East and West, Muslims and Christianity, Capitalism and Communism? The answer would have to reflect the lack of evidence to justify such an accusation. Isolated extreme actions cannot cloud our views on the pertinent issues that affect us. The West will continue with its ambivalent policies with only one permanent stand; the ultimate interest in financial gains to the usual suspects. However there is a fact that has emerged throughout this transformation that has received little attention of the world. The questionable backing of the West to totalitarian regimes that exploit their national resources on behalf of a privileged minority at the expense of a massive human and social costs ; such as oil in the Middle East and slave labour in China . This is the same global policy that has prompted one factor all across the world. A present and eminent silent clash namely; the ever growing divides between the have and have-nots. Ironically this division is now ever increasing all across the globe. Now the West is trying to reposition itself in dome occasions, backing selected revolutions in places like Tunisia, Egypt and more recently Libya, while doing the same old strategy backing totalitarian Regimes elsewhere for as long as profit flows the right direction . As the old proverb: old habits die hard. Is there really any new stand or a cultural revision in the way the new global order is being drawn in the west? And the answer would have to be a unmistakable no. It’s all business as usual.
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