Orientalism and Conspiracy: Politics and Conspiracy Theory in the Islamic World (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)

281 Pages·2010·1.43 MB·English

by  Arndt Graf

ORIENTALISM AND CONSPIRACY
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IBBK019-02 IBBK019-Serieslist-Royals ISBN:9781848852433 April23,2010 20:19
LIBRARY OF MODERN MIDDLE EAST
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Copyright © Ludwig Paul, Arndt Graf and Schirin Fathi, 2011
The right of Ludwig Paul, Arndt Graf and Schirin Fathi to be identifi ed
as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Library of Modern Middle East Studies, Vol 92
ISBN: 978 1 84885 414 7
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CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
Preface vii
Sadik J. Al-Azm – Speaking Truth to Power. A Personal Tribute ix
Stefan Wild
Personal Words to an Admired Teacher and Friend xv
Gernot Rotter
List of Contributors xix
PART ONE
Theoretical Approaches
1. Orientalism and Conspiracy 3
Sadik J. Al-Azm
2. Occidentalism as the Political Unconscious in the Literary 29
Construction of the Other
Lorenzo Casini
3. Edward Said and Bernard Lewis on the Question of Orientalism:
A Clash of Paradigms? 45
Mohd Hazim Shah
PART TWO
Historical Perspectives
4. An Orientalist Mythology of Secret Societies 71
Robert Irwin
5. A Cultural Sense of Conspiracies? The Concept of Rumor
as Propaedeutics to Conspiracism 87
Karin Hörner
6. Political Culture, Political Dynamics, and Conspiracism
in the Arab Middle East 105
Matthew Gray
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CONTENTS
PART THREE
Contemporary Discourses
7. Polemics on “Orientalism” and “ Conspiracy”
in Indonesia: A Survey of Public Discourse on the
Case of JIL Versus DDII (2001–2005) 129
J. M. Muslimin
8. Structural Orientalism, Contested Orientalism,
Post-Orientalism: A Case Study of Western Framings
of “Violence in Indonesia” 141
Arndt Graf
9. Memri.org – A Tool of Enlightenment or Incitement? 165
Schirin Fathi
10. The Tragedy of Iblis 181
Sadik J. Al-Azm
Notes 223
Bibliography 239
Index 255
vi
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PPRREEFFAACCEE
Arndt Graf, Schirin Fathi, and Ludwig Paul
Sadik J. Al-Azm has been considered one of the leading Arab intellec-
tuals and social critics for about 40 years. He became known as such
to a broader Western public in 1989, after the “Rushdie affair”, when
he took a mediating position in the inter-cultural and inter-religious
discussions. In all these, he never failed to make clear his commitment
to enlightenment and freedom of the press and other media, through
which he has become one of the leading proponents of civil society in
the Arab world. He has also decisively infl uenced the Islamic/Western
“orientalist discourse” of the last 30 years.
The Saidian orientalist hypothesis aimed at correcting the “dis-
torted” picture that (it said) Western societies had constructed of the
Islamic world over centuries. By proposing an “Occidentalist hypoth-
esis”, thus holding up a mirror to the Islamic world, Al-Azm gave
another proof of his intellectual brilliance and wit. A typical ingredient
of the distorted Orientalist and Occidentalist attitudes are conspiracy
theories. It, therefore, seemed appropriate for us to organize a confer-
ence on “orientalism and conspiracy” to honor Sadik J. Al-Azm (in
June 2005, Hamburg), the papers of which are collected in the present
volume.
The term “conspiracy theories” usually denotes ideological pat-
terns of explanation that reduce complex political or social issues to a
simple black-and-white picture. This is done typically by constructing
a scenario in which the we-group is threatened and/or dominated by
a wicked group or organization that is working in secret. Conspiracy
theories are highly complex and socially relevant phenomena of global
impact and have not yet been investigated suffi ciently so far.
vii
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PREFACE
Although conspiracy theories are widespread also in Western
countries, they seem to be of specifi c interest for the study of modern
Islamic societies. The one well-known conspiracy theory that ascribes
the aspiration at global dominance to Jewish and Zionist circles may
be called the universally most “successful” one and is indeed an inte-
gral part of most modern Islamist ideologies (but not only these). May
conspiracy theories be characterized as products or by-products of mod-
ern social-political developments? Or is the recent increase in number
and importance of conspiracy theories, in Islamic countries, rather to be
understood as a sign of failed modernization?
By addressing questions like these within various theoretical frame-
works, the conference aimed at contributing to a better understanding,
and more systematic investigation of conspiracy theories in Islamic
societies, taking into account the relevant regional and cultural aspects
that have infl uenced specifi c conspiracy theories. In detail, the follow-
ing issues were addressed:
• case studies on specifi c conspiracy theories
• the role that conspiracy theories have played in the framework of
orientalist discourses
• historical, theoretical, and conceptual conditions for the develop-
ment and existence of conspiracy theories
In addition, the conference also aimed at contributing to a cross-cultural
dialog, bringing together scholars from various Islamic and non-Islamic
countries. It is hoped that with the publication of the present volume, a
scholarly basis will be laid for a better mutual understanding of cross-
cultural misunderstandings.
viii
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Stefan Wild
It was in the last days of December 1968, and I had just been posted to
Beirut. The capital of Lebanon was at that time the intellectually liveliest
of all Arab cities. It boasted four universities and had the freest press of
any Arab country. The local historical background was the Arab defeat
against Israel in the June war of 1967 – not more than 18 months had
passed. Nasserism was on the decline, and the Palestinian presence in
Lebanon began to emerge as a major political problem. On the interna-
tional level, this was the era of the Cold War, and the US military got
deeper and deeper entangled in Vietnam. I had only been in Lebanon
for some months, but I had already heard much about the young Syrian
university professor Sadik J. Al-Azm and his “radical views”. Sadik
had been teaching at the American University of Beirut and had run
into problems there. This was not the fi rst and not the last time that
Sadik was at loggerheads with a university administration. I am not
aware that any Arabic university ever thought of awarding Sadik a
doctorate honoris causa. In any case, when I wanted to meet Sadik in
person, I could not see him. He had just been arrested and jailed. The
reason given by the authorities was hard to believe even at the time. The
charge was that Sadik had “stirred up confessional trouble”. The high-
est Muslim religious authority in Lebanon, the Mufti of the Lebanese
Republic, had intervened after Sadik had published his collection of
essays, Critique of Religious Thought (Arabic, Beirut 1968). The Sheikh
started a legal procedure. Lebanese penal law at the time punished
attempts to “foment confessional denominational trouble” as a kind of
ix
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