GLOBALIA
Magazine
Quarterly | Issue 07 | January 2010 EUR 4, USD 5.5, GBP 3.5, AED 20, MYR 20, ZAR 44
A new focus on the world
Economy: The eagle is grounded. Gold: the halt in sales confirms appeal. Middle East: Bad neighbourhood. The water crisis in the Middle East grows.
Image: picture-alliance.de (c) dpa-Report
Cover story: Secrets of the Cape. On South Africa’s Cape Town and its Muslims.
Still strong. M. Erol Yarar on Turkey’s economy, page 14.
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EDITORIAL By Abu Bakr Rieger.
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COVER STORY Secrets of the Cape. On South Africa’s Cape Town and its Muslims.
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ECONOMY Still strong. M. Erol Yarar on Turkey's economy.
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The eagle is grounded. Gold: the halt in sales confirms appeal.
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AFRICA Sudan: Tabloid geopolitics. The contours of conflict in Darfur.
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ASIA Singapore: a case study. From Sultanate to Brave New World.
Image: SAM/PADIA
CONCEPT AND EDITORIAL
Bad neighbourhood. The water crisis in the Middle East grows, page 38.
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EUROPE Growing tensions in Europe. England's prejudice takes to the streets.
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CHIEF EDITOR Abu Bakr Rieger
MIDDLE EAST
PUBLISHER IZ Medien GmbH Beilsteinerstr. 121 12681 Berlin Germany
Bad neighbourhood. The water crisis in the Middle East grows.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sulaiman Wilms
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Water resources in the Middle East. A brief overview.
DISTRIBUTION IZ Medien GmbH
44
BOOKS
PRINTING msk marketingserviceköln
Slaves and stock exchanges. Interview: Jean Ziegler on “The hatred for the West”.
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Tremors in the South. Jean Ziegler's book gets to the heart of the matter.
GLOBALIA Magazine reserves the right to shorten letters. Readers’ letters, guest articles and quotations do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Editors, nor do articles by named authors.
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THOUGHT
PHONE +49 (0)30 240 48974
The Nomos of the Earth. The Muslim perception of the world and space.
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EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL BY ABU BAKR RIEGER
0Dear Readers,
devoured more money than the cost of over a decade of foreign aid.
I am pleased to be able to present the new edition of Globalia Magazine. The Globalia
There is no doubt that the search for a just
project continues to develop and soon we
nomos for the earth has begun. A new order
hope, with the help of sponsors, to further
of peace must not only include a new
develop professionally. Our aim is an ambi-
economic order, but it will firstly have to
tious one; we want to be at the forefront of
solve the problem of the uncontrolled
the world media market.
production of capital.
As always, the point of Globalia is a deeper
In this issue, we speak to Turkish industria-
understanding of the geopolitical and contem-
list and chairman of the IBF, Erol Yarar, about
porary questions of our time. In our article on
the growing Turkish economy and the impact
and interview with Swiss professor Jean
of the financial crisis. Turkey with its unoffi-
Ziegler, we present his convincing critique of
cial capital Istanbul has always been a point
the West. Ziegler explains that the West's
of convergence for important trade routes. Of
political expansion can only be understood
late, the new Turkish Foreign Minister Davo-
as an expression of the uninterrupted econo-
toglu has quietly been bringing bordering
mic needs of the Europeans and the Ameri-
states of Central Asia and Libya closer to
cans. Ziegler traces the West's powerful finan-
Turkey and with the aim of expanding its eco-
cial instruments through the tradition of
nomic role in the region is simplifying visa and
slavery and the exploitation of the former
export regulations. Its rejection by European
colonial powers.The current trouble between
conservative parties is becoming a secondary
Algeria and France shows that the South is
problem for Turkey and remains a loss for
increasingly unwilling to follow guidelines
Europe, which has had forgone historically
set out by the West. Economic relations
unique option of Turkey's EU-membership
between the two are still frosty after President
and the forming of an alliance with Turkish
Sarkozy’s refusal to apologise for fatal ele-
President Erdogan's conservative AK-Party.
ments of France’s erstwhile colonial policies. While Turkey appears to be reasonably stable We note that an increasing numbers of intel-
in the financial crisis, fears are growing about
lectuals in the West, like Ziegler, are uneasy
the vast Chinese empire. In the view of many
and continue to lament the circumstances
experts, for a variety of reasons, China is
driving up the death toll in the third world;
quickly becoming an unpredictable opponent
rampant speculation and food shortages
of the western world. Instead of creating eco-
now assuming tremendous proportions. The
nomic opportunities, the country is develo-
rescue of the banks in the financial crisis has
ping enormous economic risks; a bubble is
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
EDITORIAL
forming, which could burst sometime soon. What would be the implications for the internal cohesion of this multi-ethnic state? Finance expert, James Chanos, explains the situation in an interview with the US television network CNBC, “Beijing has manipulated the numbers.” Chanos, who early on recognised US energy giant Enron's own manipulation, assumes that the bubble, or beautiful dream, will burst in the Middle Kingdom: “Bubbles are best seen on the basis of credit excess,” he says, “and nowhere is there more credit excess than in China.” The property market is only being kept above water with speculative capital.” In fact the Chinese property companies are heavily indebted.The individual and national debt today amounts to 160 per cent of the GDP and could rise to 200 per cent of the economic output by 2011. European thought is still relevant for a world in transition. Our global situation is still described through notions and terminology from the West. The following phrase from the famous German jurist, Carl Schmitt, is illustrative: “All concepts of politics and constitutional law are secularised theological concepts.” According to Schmitt, European political terminology and values will remain misunderstood, if the European process of secularisation and the neutralisation of Christian beliefs is not understood. Currently being discussed in Europe, for example, in view of the growing economic fears, is why the Christianity lifted the originally accepted ban on interest.
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COVER STORY
Image: Haroun Masoet, Cape Town 2010
An important centre of activity, the Jumu’a Mosque in the heart of Cape Town.
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
COVER STORY
SECRETS OF THE CAPE ON SOUTH AFRICA'S CAPE TOWN AND ITS MUSLIMS
Over recent years the South African city of Cape Town has become a favourite global tourist destination and has also become home to many new immigrants. What is not so widely known is that it is an important centre of Muslim life, as quickly becomes evident if you visit the city with its centuries-old Islamic tradition and active Muslim communities. If you want an adventure then travel to
With its natural beauty, its pleasant (if
South Africa. Its southernmost city, Cape
changeable) Mediterranean climate, and its
Town, is not only the country’s second largest
very particular and much-vaunted light, Cape
town, but together with the surrounding Cape
Town has recently developed into a booming
Peninsula one of the most extraordinary
tourist destination. Cape Town is in fashion,
places in the world.
with the Cape attracting not only tourists but also immigrants, many of whom establish
Little wonder that Cape Town is a top travel
their own businesses.
destination and a favourite landing-place for immigrants. What is less well known is that
There is a certain wildness that the country
Cape Town, like South Africa as a whole, is
still has, often perceived as liberating by the
one of the world’s most important centres of
new South Africans who arrive from European
Muslim life.
countries. Cape Town had an estimated 3.5 million inhabitants in 2007.
The Cape region has so many plant species that its natural landscape constitutes a bota-
The odd European ship had already sailed
nical kingdom in its own right. But it is also
around the Cape of Good Hope earlier, but
the human cultures that converge here in a
continuous contact between the region and
unique configuration. Boers (Afrikaners),
Europeans – and settlement – did not begin
English, Xhosa, Cape Malays and people of
until 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck and others
Indian origin, together with large numbers of
were sent to the Cape by the Dutch East India
new immigrants from Europe, the rest of
company to set up a staging post for ships
Africa, and elsewhere: all of these groupings
sailing for Southern and South-East Asia. From
go to make up the city and the region around.
then on a town gradually began to grow.
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COVER STORY
Workers were needed and slaves were brought in, especially from Indonesia, Madagascar and Bengal.They included exiles who had fought in their homelands against the rule of the Dutch – Muslim leaders from Indonesia and Malaysia, for example. It was they who founded the great Muslim tradition in the Cape. After a series of conflicts between the Dutch and the British, Cape Town finally came under British rule in 1814.The so-called Cape Colony then expanded considerably over the course of the 19th century. The city became the capital of South Africa for a time – from 1910 on – and today it is still the seat of the National Parliament and many institutions of government. From 1948 onwards, it, like all South Africa, was overshadowed by apartheid. But Cape Town produced many fighters against the system of racial segregation. Since apartheid ended in 1994, the city and the country as a whole have been in positive change, both in tourism and in the economy in general. But the city and the nation have also had to fight much harder against problems like HIV/AIDS, drugs, violent crime, robbery and not least, the disparity of rich and poor, between the monitored residential areas of the affluent and the townships. The hotel business has a long tradition in Cape Town and far pre-dates the tourist boom of recent years. One favourite domicile for visitors is the outstanding Alphen Hotel in the Constantia district, a Cape Town suburb, which spreads out on the mountain slopes that extend away towards False Bay, Two generations in the streets of the traditional Muslim quarter, the Bo Kaap.
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
Muizenberg and Fish Hoek, and to the
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COVER STORY
Image: Yaseer Booley, Cape Town
southwest towards Hout Bay. Constantia,
mosque) is now one of the best-known
Almost a million Muslims currently live in
known as part of the Winelands, is one of
tourist attractions, drawing increasing
Cape Town and the surrounding region. Halal
the most sought-after residential areas.
numbers of Muslim visitors from areas such
products are of course widespread, retailers
as South-East Asia. In reality the people,
having adapted to Muslims as customers. For
The Alphen Hotel is a listed national
although known as the Cape Malay are not
visitors it is evident how openly and easily the
monument and it too is situated on a former
purely Indonesian or Malay, they are an
locals treat Islam and the Muslims.
wine estate. Surrounded by beautiful land-
ethnic mixture of Indonesian-Malay, Indian,
scape, and with its antique furniture and
Turkish-Osmanli, Arab, European, and to a
Cape Town is home to South Africa’s oldest
colonial architecture, the venerable old
significant extent also African.
mosque. The Dutch administration gave the
building radiates the charm of times gone by – but with present-day comfort.
Muslims increased religious freedom in 1803, The so-called ‘Coloured’ peoples make up the
in gratitude for their assistance in warding off
largest proportion of the region’s population,
the British. The oldest mosques include the
Muslims in the Cape
ahead of Europeans and black Africans. The
Awwal Mosque, or ‘First Mosque’ as the name
Like South Africa as a whole, Cape Town at
Cape’s most important language is Afrikaans,
suggests, and the Palm Mosque, in the Bo
its most southern tip has a very dynamic
which is based on Dutch, and this too has
Kaap and the city centre respectively, both of
Muslim population, which shapes the city
been influenced strongly by the Muslims in
which attract many visitors.
more than first meets the eye. The old Cape
its vocabulary, its pronunciation and its
Malay quarter in the city centre, known as
grammar. The first written documents in
The largest number of Muslims today inhabit
the Bo Kaap, with its pretty cottages and old
Afrikaans were in fact written using the
the area known as the Cape Flats, which
mosques (including Cape Town’s oldest
Arabic script.
extend over large stretches of the plains to
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
COVER STORY
the east of Table Mountain.There are numerous impressive mosques such as the Habibia Mosque, as well as schools like Islamia College.
Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir As-Sufi author and teacher
There are also orphanages, including those that take care of Aids orphans. Together with businesses, media and much more, these things go to make up a living infrastructure as is otherwise usually only found in majority Muslim countries. In the city centre, and very near to the old Bo Kaap quarter, the big new Jumua Mosque has been standing at the top end of Long Street since 2005. Established in a building designed by Herbert Baker, South Africa’s
The author and teacher Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi has been living in Cape Town for a number of years. There in that historical city at the southern tip of Africa, has been responsible for a successful work of Da’wa, and, as the founder of Dallas
financial crisis as well as the logical end of
College, concerned especially with the build-
the financial system.
ing-up of a young Muslim elite. Furthermore, a unique collection of impor-
most famous architect, allegedly after a visit to Istanbul, it was formerly used as a church and a civic centre, before it became what today it seems it has always been – a mosque. The mosque was founded by the community of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi, who came
Image: Yaseer Booley, Cape Town
as in Europe, the USA and Asia before, he
His work is as broad as it is fascinating, and
tant discourses given to his Jama’at in Cape
in it he shows that the quintessence of
Town have recently been published. In the
European thought leads to the teachings of
light of the Qur’anic Revelation he teaches
Islam. Shaykh Abdalqadir, of Scottish origin,
Tawhid, the ‘Amal of Madinah and the
teaches among other things the founda-
temporality of man.
tional importance of the Muwatta of Imam
to Cape Town a number of years ago. As well
Malik, of which he commissioned the first
This year, inshallah, Shaykh Abdalqadir will
as Cape Malay, Indian and African Muslims,
full translation into English.
celebrate his 80th birthday with a large Moussem.
the mosque is also frequented by Muslims of European origin.
For several decades, Shaykh Abdalqadir has been involved on a practical level togeth-
The invitation to Islam among blacks and
er with his Community in the correct
coloureds received a significant boost from
establishment of what is a de-facto lost
the presence Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi.
pillar of Islam: Zakat. His important Fatwa
Islam has long been seen in much of South
against suicide attacks draws a clear,
Africa as the “religion of the Indians”, but of
widely-respected line between Islam and
late, more and more Africans and people of
terrorism/nihilism.
mixed race, including those in townships, have been entering Islam.
His books ‘Technique of the Coup de Banque’, ‘The Time of the Bedouin’ and
In the Jumua Mosque, the old ethnic
‘Political Renewal’ are modern classics of
divisions have disappeared entirely and the
political thought. For many years he has
universality of Islam – founded on the practice
been discussing in his political works the
of Madina and embodied in the Fiqh of Iman
problem of unfettered financial technology,
Malik – is clearly visible.
and in them he anticipated the current
One of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir As-Sufi’s recent books, ‘The Time of The Bedouin’.
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COVER STORY
Poor children are riding the waves
Upon such principles, its community has once again established the authentic collection and distribution of Zakat, the obligatory tax on wealth assets. It is paid in pure gold,
“Everyone partakes in reading, hiking, swimming lessons, writing, and on some days – weather permitting – fishing.There are currently 38 children at our school.” This project is unique, “in that we don’t just concentrate on surfing. Our work extends beyond that: we mainly take care of the kids’ education and welfare,”
collected by an Amir, and handed out according to Qur’anic injunction, reawakening the practical social reality of Islamic practice. Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi founded not only the Jumua Mosque but also the Dallas Institute, a college offering higher education to young Muslims and a form of curriculum which is almost certainly unique.
explains Khan. Taking care of poor children does not just
The aim of the College is to train future leaders
mean the essential provision of shelter, food,
With regard to medical care there is a
medical assistance and so on.They also need
medical doctor from the Muslim
activities in which they can experience nature
community who assists when he is able.
as well as their own potential. One such inter-
“I also have a good friend who is a dentist
esting project in Cape Town is the Palama
and he provides free dentistry for the
behaviour they will play an active role in
Metsi Surf Development Academy (PMSDA)
children.”
conveying Islam, and further the positive
which serves Cape Town’s Muizenberg district
by giving students not only classical Islamic knowledge but also a means to understand the modern world. By this it is hoped that, strengthened by noble Islamic character and
transformation of society. The curriculum
and the nearby areas. “Palama Metsi” means
The project – as Shafiek Khan told us in
includes subjects such as geo-politics, history
“water-riders” in Sotho, which is one of the
an interview – has had such a strong
and European literature, as well as IT – not
official languages in South Africa.
effect on all the people involved that
found in traditional Muslim madrassas –
some of the older boys and a coach
alongside the great Muslim languages of
“Our school started two years ago as a
became Muslim through it. Since trans-
Arabic, Urdu and Turkish.
voluntary operation to help get kids off the
port is difficult they are looking for ways
street and away from drugs and abuse.At our
to incorporate a small Islamic teaching
It is no accident that Cape Town, although
school we use surfing as a medium to get
programme near the beach.
apparently at the “bottom of the world” is
children involved and guide them with the
for many people one of the world’s most
best intentions to ennoble themselves,”
Contact details for Shafiek Khan:
fascinating and attractive places. Part of this
reports Shafiek Khan, founder and director of
africahaveaball@yahoo.com
is surely derived from the spirit of optimism
this innovative project.
+27 (0)825 648520
that prevailed in its founding years, as well as the relative freedoms, which set in after
Children from every walk of life are presently
the end of apartheid.
attending a two-day-weekly surfing course with the PMSDA coaching team. Lifesaving
It is that very spirit of optimism which
is another option for the older boys, which
encourages growth and innovation, but
stimulates them mentally and physically.“That
whether it continues will depend upon the
also offers an employment opportunity for
future political development of South Africa
them once they have completed the course,”
as a whole.
says Shafiek Khan.
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
Text By Yasin Alder
Image: Yaseer Booley, Cape Town
COVER STORY
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ECONOMY
community and in the OIC countries, trade
STILL STRONG
barriers and other technical and political
M. EROL YARAR ON TURKEY’S ECONOMY
matters were discussed. This year, it will be in Istanbul again, insha
M. Erol Yarar is a successful Turkish businessman
Allah, and our Istanbul meeting is always
and is the founder of the Turkish entrepreneurs’
backed up by MÜSIAD’s trade fair, one of the
organisation MÜSIAD, an Islamically oriented organisation of traders and business people. He
biggest in the Islamic OIC countries, if not the biggest. On the first day there will be the Forum and
is currently chairman of the International
on the second day the opening of the MÜSIAD
Business Forum (IBF), which is a similar organisa-
fair, backed up by business-to-business discussion sessions.
tion, but on an international level, and is especially active in the countries of the Organisation
Globalia: Is the International Business
of the Islamic Conference, (OIC). In the interview
MÜSIAD at an international level?
Mr. Yarar speaks about the role of Muslim
Forum (IBF) basically an extension of
Erol Yarar: MÜSIAD is the main supporting
businessmen in the current situation and what
body of the IBF. Of course, MÜSIAD is a Turkish
Islam has to offer to the world economy.
organisation, with IBF being an international organisation. Both organisations are co-ordinating their efforts. IBF has 30 affiliated mem-
Globalia: Mr. Yarar, could you please tell
countries and cities, like Malaysia, Iran, Abu
ber countries and member associations, and
us a bit about the IBF and its latest
Dhabi, Jeddah and Cairo, venue for the last
all representatives of IBF member countries
activities?
one which took place this year. We have
come together during IBF meetings.This is the
established a rhythm whereby we meet one
Board of Governors which incorporates the
M. Erol Yarar: The IBF was founded in 1995
year in Istanbul and the next year in other
structure of IBF.
during a meeting which was arranged when
countries.
we were invited to Pakistan by the Pakistan
Globalia: How is Turkey affected by the
Business Forum. We came up with the idea
The meeting this year in Cairo was , in asso-
of establishing an international business
ciation with the Cairo Chamber of Commerce,
organisation to unite different associations
under the auspices of the Foreign Trade
M. Erol Yarar: Turkey is of course affected
within different countries.
Ministries of Egypt and the Turkes. It was a
because Turkey is an export oriented country.
financial crisis?
large event which assembled more than 1,000
Our exports have dropped by around 20 per
We brought up the issue of establishing a
businessmen from outside Egypt and another
cent. But the internal economy is not so bad.
forum, which we named the International
1,000 from Egypt. It was held over two days;
The Turkish economy has a very dynamic
Business Forum. In the following year we
the first day being the Conference day and
relationship with its neighbouring countries,
organised a large gathering in Istanbul
the second concerned with business
and these new links sustained economic
where it was decided that Istanbul should
matchmaking sessions and a number of
activity with the result that we did not feel
be the headquarters of the IBF. Since then
panels in which current business issues, the
the crisis so much. But the Turkish economy
we have held many conferences in different
problems being faced both within the Islamic
was affected to some extent.
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
ECONOMY
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ECONOMY
Globalia: Is Turkey nowadays orienting
centre of inspiration for the OIC countries
key starting point: too often we were ignorant
itself economically more to eastern,
in terms of economic policy, civil society,
of what we were eating – a bad situation for
Asian and Islamic countries rather than
human rights and not least, in terms of
the Muslim community all around the globe.
towards Europe?
entrepreneurship; how to guide and to
As you know, the Jewish community has
enhance it. It now serves an important role
the kosher standard, closely regulated by the
M. Erol Yarar: Turkey had a stronger
model for all OIC countries. I think this
religious rabbis. Even people in Muslim
connection to Europe ten years ago when I
importance has surpassed MÜSIAD’s
societies buy kosher food when they are not
think most of the hard trade was with the
importance in Turkey.
sure what they are eating, because they can
West. At that time we were very much
be sure that there is no pork in it.
opposed to any other idea and the importance
Globalia: On a global level, the so-called
of neighbouring countries was neglected.
‘halal business’ is playing an increasingly
It was in a way shameful for the Muslim
important role. Is it true for the Turkish
society to be in such a situation. What we
economy?
realised first of all was that it was a fatwa
But the new government, which has been very effective in its policies for nearly the last
situation, yet we found out that there was
seven years, has changed this direction and has developed a more balanced approach to
very little intelligence on the matter from the
But the new government
Islamic scholars. Either they did not know
its neighbouring countries – with the support
which has been very
the technical issues or they were not very
of the foreign trade minister, our prime
effective in its policies
aware of the problem.
minister and our government in general,
for the last seven years
Turkey has extended its trade relationships with the neighbouring countries. So now, the
has changed direction
In Egypt we accomplished a lot regarding this issue over the past years, and recently the
relationship with the East and the West, the
and has developed a
issue of genetically modified foods has been
North and the South is more balanced – as
more balanced approach
raised.
should be the case. Turkey does not want to
to its neighbouring coun-
be dependent on any one area.
tries – with the support
This should be an increasingly important aspect of the halal issue. It was MÜSIAD
Globalia: What role do businessmen
of the foreign trade mi-
members who brought this issue up, would
within MÜSIAD play inside Turkey?
nister, our prime minis-
there was indeed a great lack of information
ter and our government
regarding the issue as there were no bio-
Erol Yarar: They are very effective. We constitute more than 10,000 companies; export-
in general, Turkey has
oriented companies, representing more than
extended its trade rela-
10 per cent of Turkish exports – a major part
tionships with the neigh-
of the GNP of Turkey – and employing – close
bouring countries.
to one million people.
medics or biologists within the Islamic community to comment or to guide the Islamic scholars on the issue. I believe it is an international Islamic issue and I know that the OIC is striving very much to resolve it. Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu,
So MÜSIAD is very effective in the Turkish
Erol Yarar: Yes, of course. I mean, there is
the general secretary of OIC, is personally
economy and is getting more and more so
always a fatwa problem within the halal
involved in solving this problem within the
by the year, although it is still a young -
concept, and we discussed this matter at the
madhhabs and trying to unite the madhhabs
organisation, just 20 years old next year. It
last IBF meeting in Cairo.Within MÜSIAD we
and their different views so that a unity can
is highly professional, with effective
have some experts dealing with this issue.
be achieved.
governance, with vision, dynamism and
Even 20 years ago, when we founded MÜSIAD,
energy. Most importantly it has become a
it was an important issue as halal food is a
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
I also think that political will is very important
ECONOMY
for this. Politicans have to show determina-
rules of Allah, in avoiding riba and promoting
tion to overcome this issue. If they do, I think
trade and economic activity – towards entre-
Islamic scholars will rally to unite their
preneurship, joint ventures, partnership and
judgements and come up with a single fatwa,
also debt without riba.
first in the general sense of the halal food concept, and secondly for new concepts like
We have a lot to give to the world. The last
genetically modified foods. MÜSIAD is very
economic crisis has shown that this extensive
much aware of the importance of this issue
use of riba produced so much paper money
and is working on it all the time.
in the world economy that it could not be matched by collateral – namely the products
Globalia: In your talk at the Young
themselves. While there is a lot of money,
MÜSIAD Germany conference in Berlin,
there are fewer products on the world market.
you mentioned the Qur’anic ayat in which
In fact, they do not know what to do with this
Allah has declared riba as haram and has
mass of paper.
declared trade as halal.You also said that
Erol Yarar, head of the IBF.
understand. I believe that we have to
Islamic rules and ethics can have a
This is time-bomb which is still ticking. They
promote joint ventures, we have to promote
positive influence on global economic
pumped more money into the system to try
partnerships and we have to promote debt
practics. Can you explain this a bit more
to overcome the problem and so there is even
without riba, which is friendship. We should
in detail?
more paper money now than before the crisis
not always think about earning money by
started. It is like a tsunami – you do not know
lending money.
Erol Yarar: The Prophet Muhammad was a
where it is going to hit next.
businessman himself, and his wife was also
Globalia: How does a Muslim business-
a tradeswoman. Most of his companions
Although interest rates have fallen a great
were also tradesmen. So the Qur’an came to
deal, inside some countries to nearly zero,
a people who were very much involved in
we still continue to support the idea of
Erol Yarar: A businessman wants to earn
trade.That the Qur'an is held to be valid until
promoting entrepreneurs without charging
money, while a Muslim businessman is
the Last Day of the universe is an indication
them any interest, and instead become
always questioning the way of doing this,
that in the coming centuries the economy
partners with them.
would be of utmost importance.
man differ from a non-Muslim one?
how to do find a halal way of earning money. Profit is not the only thing he is
We will show the world that prosperity can
interested in. For example, he cannot deal
If this is the case, it means that Allah subhana
come with a just economic system. Money
in alcohol.
wa ta’ala has prepared us for an under-
may not bring happiness, but justice will. If
standing of trade, governance and regulation
we succeed, then we will share our profit, if
Another aspect is how he spends his money.
of the economy in such an ethical way that
we do not succeed, then we will not be in
For us, Allah has shown us how we should
prosperity will come along with justice. In the
debt, and no one will lose.
earn and how we should spend our money
capitalist world we see that economic
in a halal way. In capitalism, any kind of
prosperity brings neither justice nor neces-
So it is a win or lose situation, for everybody.
profit is strived for, and it does not matter
sarily happiness.
When transactions are based on interest,
how the money is spent. As Muslims, we are
loss of money would still leave the original
not allowed to waste money, we have to
If we want wealth only, perhaps Allah may
debt, while in the event of making a profit,
pay the Zakat and so on.
give us it but not necessarily happiness, since
one would still have to pay one’s debts,
happiness is felt in the heart. Accordingly, we
plus the riba. This is a very important part
Globalia: Erol Yarar, thank you very much
follow the path of our Prophet and obey the
of the economy that everybody should
for the interview.
16
17
ECONOMY
Text By Sulaiman Wilms
Gold, more and more ordinary people want it as an alternative to losing their savings.
Ironically, the increase in demand for gold
THE EAGLE IS GROUNDED
has also led to negative side effects.
GOLD: THE HALT IN SALES CONFIRMS APPEAL
Among other things, speculators and other “investors” use precious metals and other commodities of natural value in order to
In times of uncertain relationships and shaky
further operate their business in seemingly
confidence, gold and other precious metals are
safe speculative markets.
made the focus of private investors as well as
The increase in the price of gold and the
entire nations. Recently though, a report by the
continuing deteriorating economic conditions
US Mint prompted attention, when it stated that
also lead to a situation where the ordinary
the popular ‘American eagle’ was temporarily not for sale.
consumer, who for obvious reasons would like to acquire more gold, cannot afford to due to the worsening economic climate. It is for this reason that the demand for gold has
“We are left with gold. Whether in your
heavy loss-making stock markets rightly hold
declined in Turkey. Here – in a sad irony –
camp there is hyperinflation or deflation
on to their precious metals. “Increasing
sections of the population are having to sell
(or any other of the ‘flations’), gold is
worries about inflation, a failing U.S. dollar
their gold in order to survive.
king, regardless of spot price.” (Tarek
and geopolitical tensions are prompting
Saab, ‘The Crash, Cash & Gold’)
individual investors to take physical pos-
On the other hand, US consumer demand,
session of gold coins [...] as a safe haven in
particularly for the one-ounce ‘American eagle’
In times of volatility, those whose retirements
financial and political crises,” reported the
(gold), reached levels that the US mint could
were not destroyed by mortgages or in the
Reuters news agency recently.
– at the end of last year – no longer meet,
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
ECONOMY
forcing them to suspend sales. Critics of the
have been impossible that the mint could
distributed by Liberty Services. In May 2009
US financial administration have implied that
have been in a position where it was unable
von NotHaus and others were accused of
there may be more sinister motives.
to supply the popular coin. Rather, according
federal crimes in connection with the Liberty
to an unnamed source, the reason for the
Dollar. On 31 July 2009, he stated that he
Demand for the coin
temporary stops was that the mint was
had to suspend the entire alternative
Since the US mint first began to distribute the
unwilling to deliver.
currency operation until the trial was over.
At the core of the criticism is an obvious
In contrast to complementary alternative
has proven very successful.The price of these
break with logic. On the one hand, due to the
currencies, Liberty Dollars were based on their
coins – a popular variety is also available in
demand for the one-ounce coins from consu-
weight in metal and were of real value –
silver – is in line with the market value [spot
mers – triggered by the comparatively low
gold, silver, platinum and copper. “Real
price] of their precious metal content, and
price of gold – the supply could no longer be
money like gold and silver holds its value, it
not
unit.
maintained. Later it was explained that
is the US dollar that buys less and less,”
According to a statement from the US mint,
because of the high price of blank gold
explained von NotHaus in a lengthy, online
“With the US congress-authorised American
coins, nobody was able to deliver.
statement of 13 January 2010, pending
‘American eagle’ in 1986, the gold coin, offered in weights of 1/10, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 ounce
the
currency
eagle coins [bullion], they offer an easy and cost effective way to incorporate a small
criminal proceedings against him. This argument was – in the eyes of those
amount of physical platinum, gold or silver
critics – simply absurd. The American eagle
“The value of the US dollar is worth less and
into your portfolio. Since its inception in 1986,
is a sign of lasting value. Everyone knows the
less so it takes more and more of them to buy
the American eagle coins made of gold,
coin. By May 2009 – as before – there was
the same goods and services. Most people
platinum and silver have been the leading
also a temporary halt in the sale of the equally
think prices have gone up, but actually, it is
investment product on the market in terms
successful American eagle in silver. The fact
the value of the US dollar that has gone
of bullion coins.”
that the ‘unnamed insiders’ were not just the
down,” the self-proclaimed “monetary archi-
usual critics is underpinned by the fact that
tect” said, describing the fact that the price
Now a press release from the end of last
the temporary suspension was also reported
of gold has risen exponentially since the dis-
November caused ears to prick up. It stated
by news outlets such as Reuters and Yahoo,
connection between gold and the dollar.
that the mint had run out of supplies of the
as well as more specific professional news
one-ounce coin and that due to popular
services.
Services cannot take a joke The federal authorities were unwilling to
demand it could no longer be sold for that particular timespan. But in November 2009
Dangerous freedom
accept – despite allegedly ambiguous
alone, coins weighing a total of 124,000
The search for crisis-proof investment and
statements from individual officials – an
ounces in gold should have been sold.
savings products for US citizens not only
alternative. On 14 November 2007, agents
Ostensibly, the necessary gold blank coins
leads to empty shelves, but in extreme cases,
from the FBI and the secret services raided
for the minting were no longer available at
can also have very tangible criminal conse-
various offices belonging to Liberty Dollar.
end of last year. “Due to the unforeseen
quences, as was the case with the former
According to an email from Bernard von
demand for the American eagle, gold
alternative currency: the “Liberty Dollar.”
NotHaus to clients and friends, the FBI confis-
supplies have been exhausted. We have,
cated all the gold, silver and platinum.
therefore, temporarily suspended the sale
The project was conceived in the form of
Moreover, the computers and files were seized
of these coins,” stated a memorandum
coined precious metals, gold and silver
and the accounts frozen.
issued by the mint to US wholesalers.
certificates and a complementary electronic currency. Until July 2009, the Liberty
In May 2009, von NotHaus and three others
Expressions of doubt
Dollar, initiated by Bernard von NotHaus –
were indicted before a federal grand jury in
According to critical industry insiders, it would
co-founder of the Royal Hawaiian mint – was
the US district court in Statesville (North
18
19
ECONOMY
Carolina). He himself was arrested on 6 June
Since then, nearly every country – especially
foreign exchange reserves). They are
2009. The indictment was on several indivi-
the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and
followed by Germany with 3,413 tonnes.
dual counts, which in essence stated that
China) who slowly but surely want to free
Officially, the International Monetary Fund
Liberty minted coins that – contrary to federal
themselves from the global dominance of
(IMF) is the third largest holder of the precious
law – were meant to be similar to legal
the dollar as a medium of exchange – have
metal with 3,217 tonnes. However its partial
tender. On 28 July 2009, von NotHaus
given speeches indicating that they want
sell off is the cornerstone of a new income
pleaded not guilty on all charges.
to increase their gold reserves.
model to reduce the IMF’s dependency on income revenue from credit.
The criticism of the concept of the Liberty
Mark Robinson, an expert on investment
Dollar (voiced by people otherwise well-
bullion [Bullion], considers this to be an
Confronting reality
disposed to monetary alternatives) was that
extremely ambitious project. If Beijing
The real value of gold (along with other real
it contradicted the basic concept of mea-
really wants to reach 10,000 tonnes in ten
potential means of exchange, this author
suring the weight of the precious metal used
years time, then it has to acquire 1,000
would suggest) should not however, accor-
with the design of the coin, drawing people
tonnes a year from now. China has already
ding to Tarek Saab in “The Crash, Cash &
to the false conclusion that the Liberty Dollar
invested large amounts in the discovery of
Gold”, be measured by its “performance” on
was legal tender and not a private voluntary
new deposits. The Chinese economic ex-
the stock market. Because, “Since gold is true
currency.
pansion into Africa, particularly in its
money, and intrinsically, fiat currency is hardly
resource-rich regions must be understood
worth the paper it is written on, then the
Von NotHaus disagreed with this view:
in this respect. This trend in Beijing’s policy
value of assets in terms of gold is a better
“Please remember, the Liberty Dollar is a
on reserve currencies is also corroborated in
barometer of gold’s performance than its
private voluntary barter currency. It is not
the evaluation of the third quarter (Q3) of
price in dollars.”
government money so it is not intended to
2009 in a recent report by the World Gold
be used as ‘legal tender’, ‘current money’ or
Council (WGC). Whilst the rates of purchase,
“[...] When measured over a wider swathe of
a ‘coin’.”
year on year (Q3/2008 to Q3/2009) were
time, we see a clearer picture of gold’s
lower, mainland China was the notable
formidableness. Gold’s performance lays
The nations are looking for gold
exception. In the third quarter of 2009, its
waste to the notion that the economy is
The raiding of private homes by government
gold purchases had increased by 10 percent.
‘strengthening’ or in ‘recovery,’ and mani-
agents, as has happened in the US and else-
In terms of investment bullion, demand from
fests the stark, decade-long decline of our
where, ostensibly because of attempts to
end consumers increased by 30 percent when
nation’s economy.” Gold’s worth currently,
establish altenative currencies, seems to have
compared with the third quarter of 2008.
as we have shown, is not in its function as a new speculative object – when there are
become a viable option internationally and appears to be a result of the increasingly
Additionally, figures also increased in the
weaknesses in the various financial deri-
unstable reserve currency.
Middle East as well as in the United States –
vatives and paper currencies – but rather in
the two are also important markets. This was
its function as a currency and as a safe
According to an article by David Lew in
due to the WGC’s announcement that it was
investment option.
“Commodity Online” (01 December 2009)
a particularly strong quarter. Significantly,
China wants to increase its national gold
however, the 17 per cent decline in the US
The question we have to ask ourselves, as
reserves – to the massive amount of 10,000
between 2008 and 2009 correlates to the 9
enlightened people, is how to position
tonnes over the next ten years.
percent depreciation of the dollar.
ourselves in civil society given this apparent trend. A rational option – that has not been
In April 2009, Beijing announced that it had
At the moment, everything is as usual. The
dismissed by representatives of the current
already increased its gold holdings from 454
United States have the largest reserves with
financial system – would be that states at
tonnes in 2003 to the current amount of 1,054.
8,133 tonnes of gold (76.3 percent of its
least give their citizens the freedom to choose
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
20
21
AFRICA
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
AFRICA
region, tribal militia not affiliated with the
SUDAN: TABLOID GEOPOLITICS
rebels, such as the nomadic Abbala.While the
THE CONTOURS OF CONFLICT IN DARFUR
Abbala camel-nomads have been described as forming the backbone of the feared Janjaweed, proxy forces of Khartoum, the
In an age of media-politics where complex issues
reality is that Janjaweed is a blanket term
are reduced to ‘sound bites’ carrying politically
for roaming, criminal militia on horseback,
charged meaning, we are reminded of Marshall
not having any particular ethnic source or political affiliation.
McLuhan who famously wrote that ‘the medium is the message’, meaning that what reaches us through modern media format is usually subject to a repackaging which renders news as
The results were high levels of destruction in the rural homelands of the tribes comprising the bulk of the two rebel groups, namely the Zaghawa, Fur and Massalite tribes, but also including the Tungur, Bergid and Dagu tribes.
‘entertainment’ or involves degrees of intrigue
The geographical significance of these attacks
designed to capture an audience’s imagination
reveals the other driving issue in this conflict: competition over fertile land and water.
for a suitable period on issues, which in many cases oversimplify and serve an unsaid agenda.
When Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai said in 2004 that, “The roots of the Darfur conflict is a struggle over controlling
The situation in Darfur is no different, itself
Darfur, trying to prevent an unproven geno-
an environment that can no longer support
being reformatted as an intriguing and racially
cide, at a time in which popular mobilisation
all the people who must live in it,” she was
motivated conflict between an Arab Islamist
against the illegal Iraq war is nowhere to be
alluding to the ecological aspect of the
government, native African farmers and
seen.
conflict, an issue ignored in mainstream
Contours of Conflict
as opposed to causes. The Fur, Massaliet,
In 2003, the SLA and JEM rebel movements
Tungur, Bergid and Dagu tribal homelands
The effect has been a mobilised campaign
led an insurgency against government tar-
are situated around the verdant Jebel Marra
involving all calibres of people, from celebrities
gets in Northern Darfur.The rebels destroyed
mountain range in central Darfur, the area
tribes in Darfur, a situation which calls for action.
analysis which tends to focus on outcomes
to students and Zionist groups to African-
89 police stations and killed up to 400 police
most affected by violence.The lush vegetation
American organizations, who are calling for
officers as well as destroying a number of
of this 70km mountain range stands in con-
an end to the atrocities, usually demanding
government aircraft. The rebels who laun-
trast to the stark desert of north Darfur and
some sort of United Nations authorizsed inter-
ched the attacks were transported in around
provides the means of survival to whoever
vention to halt the claimed ‘genocide’. The
40 brand new Land-Cruisers carrying
controls it. Access to these lands has been
common denominator in this mobilisation,
advanced weaponry and modern satellite
one of the driving forces of the conflict.
as explained by Mahmud Mamdani in his
communication, equipment Khartoum claims
book ‘Saviours and Survivors: Darfur, Politics,
the rebels could not access nor afford with-
Mahmud Mamdani writes that,“In the 1960’s,
and the War on Terror’, has been the moral
out foreign assistance. The government of
when the Sahelian drought hit the region and
high-ground claimed by these diverse groups,
Sudan responded with a brutal counter-insur-
the desert began to move southwards, a full
including the mass media, which see them-
gency, in the process arming, through there
one hundred kilometers in four decades, many
selves as the allies of the dispossessed in
being insufficient government forces in the
of the inhabitants of the Sahel – both nomads
22
23
AFRICA
tariqas. The Mahdi also continued the centralising political plan of the historic Darfurian Sultanates. In contrast to the selfreinforcing and exclusive power structures of hereditary tribal groupings in Darfur from the mid 17th century, a Sultanate emerged whose power base comprised a multi-ethnic and amalgamated tribal bloc and a significant slave population incorporated into the standing armies of this Sultanate.This had the effect of diluting the influence of the larger tribes, as well as bolstering the power of the and settled people – began to move, some
The newcomers insisted on their right of
Sultan at the expense of chiefs and tribal
south, others east, all in the direction of the
equal access to land based on the fact that
leaders through detribalising land owner-
Jebel Marra, which is flanked on its southern
they, like the sedentary populations, were
ship, instead making it the preserve of the
side by the Al-Arab River…and is thus the one
citizens of Sudan and thus entitled to access
Sultan who would parcel out land in a manner
certain source of sustenance in an increasingly
to communal territory, a position the seden-
conducive to political stability, creating
arid land. Just as the drought knew no
tary Fur, amongst others, rejected due to the
individually owned properties, alongside
borders, those affected by it also shed their
rights sedentary groups enjoyed under the
communal property, in effect, a balance of
sense of borders, whether between coun-
judicial structure pertaining to land which
power scenario.
tries or between tribal homelands, as they
Sudan had inherited from the British. Mamdani explains that Islam served as the
groped for ways to survive.”
Imam Mahdi
glue which bound together the various tribes
The bulk of the ecologically displaced people
It was from Darfur that the forces which in-
of the region, “The Mahdi’s rallying cry was
of North Sudan came from the culturally non-
flicted a humiliating defeat upon the British
simple: for justice to exist, Islam must be
Arab Zaghawa and Bedeyat, and the cultu-
in the 1880’s were mobilised. Led by Imam
purified. Islam provided the ideology that
rally Arab, Abbala tribes comprised of the
Muhammad Ahmed, a multi-ethnic group of
rallied the multiplicity of ethnic groups and
Mahamid, Beni Hussein, Mahariya and
soldiers and horsemen took up arms against
the glue to bind a trans-ethnic movement.”
Irayqat. While the Zaghawa, extending into
the British and Ottoman-Egyptian forces con-
The role of Sufi tariqas served to enhance the
Chad, are a mix of sedentary farmers and
trolling the country. The Mahdi, as he called
power of the Mahdi, with various Shaykhs
camel nomads, the Abbala by contrast are
himself, declared jihad against the foreign
endorsing the anti-colonial jihad.
almost entirely nomadic, moving with their
powers in 1881 and eventually succeeded in
camel herds across the Sahel region, having
driving both the Egyptian and later the British
Mamdani writes that the Mahdiyya deeply
no permanent homelands, just a traditionally
forces out of the country.The event was deeply
disrupted the tribal structure in Sudan, noting
symbiotic relationship with other tribes and
felt by the British Empire, whose government
that power was not only challenged from
peoples encountered along their migratory
mouthpiece The Daily News, wrote, “Seldom
below, in response to the call for jihad, but
routes .The effects of the drought meant that
in the memory of living man has news been
from above as well from the highly centralised
as these groups moved south and east in
received of such a disaster in England.”
Mahdist state. The autocratic Mahdi saw the power wielded by tribal Shaykhs as a direct
search of suitable pasture, they sought access to the lands of the Fur, Tungur, Dagu and
The significance of the Mahdi lay in three
challenge to his supreme authority and as a
Bergid communities who decided that the
interconnected strands: the movement
result took offensive action against such
land could not sustain the newcomers as well
emerged from Darfur, the movement was
groupings. One such tribe, the Kababish “were
as themselves.
trans-ethnic, and was held together by Sufic
not sufficiently submissive” and as a result
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
AFRICA
had their money and flocks confiscated and
dominion over Darfur and Sudan, the British
the west (Darfur, Kordofan etc), British
their leadership suppressed, with the Kababish
sought to undo the heterogeneity of the
colonialism championed a policy of retriba-
“practically ceasing to exist as a people.”
Sultanate and the progress of the Mahdi
lisation, “heralding ‘tribe’ as the authentic
And again, “Given the duration and depth of
through a policy of ‘divide and rule’ once they
political identity of Africans as opposed to all
its impact on society, the Mahdiyya must be
reclaimed control of key parts of the country
other wider trans-local identities.”
regarded as a revolutionary movement.When
under General H.H. Kitchener in 1898. The
revolution came to Darfur, it was not Sparta-
key was to retribalise Darfur, and indeed
British strategy involved eliminating private
cist, but Sufi.The soldier slaves in Darfur were
Sudanese society in order to fragment Mahdist
land ownership and, instead, redistributing
always armed, and they constituted the bulk
power, emphasising tribal allegiances as
land as communal property, putting it not
of the Sultan’s army. Slavery was a counter-
opposed to obedience to a Sultan, alongside
under the control of an overarching author-
weight to tribal identity and a building block
a policy of indirect rule through subservient
ity such as a Sultan, but rather dividing the
of state formation. But the armed slaves of
local rulers. Mamdani writes that “British
land up into tribal homelands, according to
Darfur did not provide its revolutionaries.
administrative policy in the colony of Sudan
ethnic groups identified in census collections.
Churchill understood this better than any
was shaped by one supreme objective: to
colonial official. It is Sufism that heralded an
remove every trace of Mahdist influence from
The effect of this retribalisation was to have
egalitarian rebellion against authority.” Islam,
the country by attacking the very basis of its
far reaching consequences for the Darfuri
as opposed to nationalism or tribal allegiance,
trans-ethnic mobilisation.”
was at the heart of the anti-colonial rebellion.
once the Sahelian drought forced an unsettling pattern of migration, for alongside
Whereas the Mahdi had pushed forward a
the redistribution of land into tribal homelands
Recognising the danger that these political
centralising governance structure uniting for
came a further discriminatory policy; that of
and spiritual developments posed to foreign
the first time the lands of riverine Sudan with
providing access to land to people the British
The encroachment of the Sahel belt is one of the core reasons for the conflict in Darfur.
24
25
AFRICA
designated ‘settled’ such as the sedentary
nomadic Abbala, the government commis-
assistance for the belligerent parties. The
Fur, a category further reinforced by the British
sioner of Nyala granted the Hamdania tribe
German jurist Carl Schmitt wrote that “the
classification of the tribes in Sudan according
a piece of land south of Nyala in government
concept of humanity is an especially useful
to race. This meant that ‘settled’ peoples in
registered land which fell within the Fur
ideological instrument of imperialist expan-
Darfur, determined as being more African
magdumate or province.The Fur had not been
sion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it
than Arab, being accorded the status of nati-
consulted and took up arms, leading to
is a specific vehicle of economic imperia-
ves of the land, and enjoying more rights than
renewed violence and grievances against
lism.” Aid agency CARE International, opera-
the Darfuri Arabs who had, according to the
Khartoum.
ting in Sudan, has for example, received
British, migrated there from the Middle East
funding from one of the world’s largest
and elsewhere. This distinction has been
The crisis in Darfur is very much a product of
proven false and only served to exacerbate
judicial failure within a biased legal struc-
tensions between groups, where natives, ac-
ture inherited from British colonialism which
cording to the British system, had more rights – and political representation – than settlers. Mamdani writes that “For all populations,
armaments manufacturers, Lockheed Martin. Reports of proxy warfare and foreign assistance for rebel groups only serve to
The crisis in Darfur is very much a product of judi-
reinforce Sudanese government fears of destabilisation. The strategic value of Sudan cannot be underestimated: the sanctions
nomadic and sedentary, the effect of the
cial failure within a biased
against it and the US-promoted isolation of
ecological crisis filtered through the land and
legal structure inherited
Sudan are leading to the vacuum being filled
governance system created during the colonial
from British colonialism
by the Chinese. US fears centre on the future
period.” Thus a civil war developed in the region during the 1980’s between tribes with land rights and those without, notably invol-
which prevented an equitable handling of both the
relations between Sudan and the People’s Republic of China. Sudan could in effect become the centre of Chinese military and
ving the Zaghawa and Mahariya against the
effects of ecological
logistical presence in the Horn of Africa,
Fur tribes who refused to accommodate their
displacement
and
notwithstanding the fact that Sudan shares
claims to land based on common Sudanese
traditional conflict medi-
the same waterway with Saudi Arabia and
citizenship. Zaghawa settlements were destroyed and their leaders executed, with the same meted out to the Fur. Zaghawans who moved to urban areas had more success in business
ation, and further exac-
Israel, making it a critically significant territory bordering the Middle East.
erbated by governmental shortsightedness.
The Unified Combatant Command of the US,
than those in rural areas and came into con-
AFRICOM, which has military jurisdiction
tinual conflict with tribal militia. In 1989, a
over all of Africa bar Egypt, works alongside
reconciliation meeting took place between the
prevented an equitable handling of both the
CENTCOM – which covers the Middle East
belligerents, and what emerged was that both
effects of ecological displacement and tradi-
and Central Asia – regarding strategic
the Fur and the Abbala saw themselves as
tional conflict mediation, further exacerbated
planning and force deployment. Reports of
victims of a campaign of extermination, the
by governmental shortsightedness.
Sudanese air force planes taking off from Chinese oil installations before bombing
Fur alleging a genocide had been perpetrated against them and the Abbala claiming to
“Cry havoc and the dogs of war”
rebel troops in Darfur only serve to reinforce
be the victims of a holocaust.The significance
The media portrayal of the Darfur conflict
this fear.
of this, as Mamdani notes, is that these were
represents the ‘tip of the iceberg’ in relation to
the views of the belligerents before the Arab
the deeper geo-strategic manoeuverings
The author is currently teaching for the Dallas
government of Omer al-Bashir took power.
underway in Sudan. Hiding behind the calls
Institute, Cape Town.
for humanitarian intervention in Sudan lie In a clumsy attempt to pacify the landless,
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
unspoken interests and covert foreign
Text By Dawud Stewart Hurrell
26
27
ASIA
On 29th January 1819, Stamford Raffles,
SINGAPORE: A CASE STUDY FROM SULTANATE TO BRAVE NEW WORLD
Governor General of Bencoolen, landed on the shores of Singapore.That arrival would shape the next one hundred and forty four years of the island’s history. Singapore on that day
With regards to its evolution over the last forty
was still de jure part of the Johor Sultanate
years since independence, Lee Kuan Yew boasted
of Tengku Abdur Rahman, although in practice it was under the administration and
of taking Singapore from the status of a third-
legislation of the local vizier, Temenggung
world nation-state to that of a first-world nation-
Abdur Rahman. Convinced that the British
state. In reality, Singapore’s Independence Day marked the direction the small City-State Island would take: not reaching first-world status but rather a Brave New World status.
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
needed a new base in Southeast Asia and with the support of Lord Hastings, the Governor General of India, Raffles had set out on a mission to find the most strategic spot in the region: firstly, to counter Dutch colonial ambitions there and secondly, to enhance the
ASIA
Text By Hasbullah Shafi’iy
sea trade route between Britain and China.
catalyst to the transition. The exiled Hussein
ing post in Singapore. Four years later, on the
Singapore seemed at once to be the ideal
Mu’azzam Shah, who was considered by some
7th of June 1823, having realised how bene-
geopolitical decision. Its transition from Sulta-
of the nobility in Johor, as well as Temenggung
ficial Singapore might be for British power in
nate to a British colony had commenced.
Abdur Rahman, to be the legitimate heir to
Southeast Asia, Raffles signed a second treaty
the Johor Sultanate, was immediately recog-
with the same two puppets, that extended
Tengku Abdur Rahman was under the influ-
nised by the British as the new Sultan and
British possession to most of the island.
ence of the Dutch and therefore would never
smuggled into Singapore despite Dutch indig-
agree to a British base in Singapore, while the
nation. Through financial support and
In other words, the island was purchased by
Dutch had not yet realised the strategic
political recognition, Raffles gained both
the British for the meagre annual stipends of
significance of the island. Raffles had thus to
Hussein Shah’s and the Temenggung’s favour
$1,500 and $800, going to the newly recog-
undertake a Machiavellian approach to the
to establish the base in Singapore that
nised Tengku, Hussein Shah, and the old Te-
matter to swiftly secure it as a new British
would soon become a colony.
menggong respectively.This was just a minor preview of British machinations in the greater
colony. He calculated the prevalent political tension over the legitimacy of Tengku Abdur
On 6th February 1819, Raffles signed a treaty
Muslim world over the next century – one only
Rahman’s succession to the throne of his late
with Hussein Shah and the Temenggung that
has to think of the procuring of Shah
father to be the loophole that could be the
gave Britain permission to establish a trad-
Muzaffaruddin of Persia in return for the entire
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ASIA
unexplored petroleum fields of Persia, or of
and parliamentary politics led to the setting
Independence Day marked the direction the
Shaikh Mubarak Al-Sabah in return for the
up of first an Executive Council and then a
City-State Island would take: not reaching
Gulf port of Kuwait and not least, Sheriff
Legislative Council that eventually ended up
first-world status but rather a Brave New
Hussein in return for Jerusalem and the break-
in a merger with Malaysia. That too did not
World status.
up of the Hijaz from the Ottoman Sultanate.
last and finally Singapore became an indepen-
The procurement of Singapore increased
dent City-State on 9th August 1965 under
The image of Singapore – impeccably clean
the rule of the People’s Action Party (PAP).
and crime-free, free of slums or poverty,
tension between the British, who now had the
minimal unemployment, a multi-racial society
upper hand, and the Dutch who were quite
Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister and
living in harmony with one of the world’s
appalled at the situation. There followed the
current Minister Mentor, wept on the day
highest GDP growth rates and a highly
1824 Anglo-Dutch treaty for a final break-up
Singapore was given independence. He
efficient transport system – hides the subtle
of the Malay Archipelago.The Malaccan Strait
mentioned that all his adult life he had
and silent oppression that lurks beneath.
became the dividing line between the two
believed in the Malaysian merger and the
powers – north to the British and south to
unity of the two territories. The idea of the
Aldous Huxley published ‘Brave New World’
the Dutch. Almost a century later, the Sykes-
merger was to make Singapore an
in 1932. It was an accurate socio-political
Picot agreement would similarly divide the
autonomous island functioning under its own
description of a decaying society, which, if
greater Muslim Sultanate (Osmanli Empire)
constitution but joined with Malaysia in its
allowed to carry on in a solely economic direc-
into three regions of influence amongst the
economy. That would have meant three
tion, would lead to the dysfunction of organic
British, the French and the Russians.
important ports – Singapore, Melaka and
human existence and would be replaced by
Penang – that could have collectively benefit-
a technical and utilitarian society groomed to
After the break-up, from 1826 to 1942,
ted the merging states economically and
serve a meritocracy devoid of history, reli-
Singapore functioned as part of the British
geopolitically.Today, over 50,000 vessels pass
gion, education and even emotion, living only
Straits Settlements that soon became a
through the Malaccan strait per year carrying
under the command of the state, living for the
separate Crown Colony directly administered
about one-quarter of the world’s traded
State and for economic efficiency. It was far
by the Colonial Office in London. The island
goods, including oil, Chinese manufactures,
beyond a gloomy prognostication of the
moved from being an important trading port
and Indonesian coffee. When independence
future. Little did he think that half a century
to a major city because of an incremental
came, Lee Kuan Yew lost that economic and
later, his novel might serve as an apposite
rise in immigration that commenced with the
strategic opportunity and therefore had to
education for Singaporeans.‘Brave NewWorld’
opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. In 1942,
base the independent island’s economy
was not totalitarianism – the picture that
the Japanese captured Singapore, to the
heavily on exports, entrepot trade and inter-
George Orwell painted in 1984, which was the
complete surprise and shock of the British
national financial markets and services.
other route many countries had taken after
superpower, a strategy to repel them from the
Colonialism. It was a benevolent dictatorship.
region and for imperial reasons of their own,
It can be seen now that from 29th January
Applying it to Singapore, it may be described
besides Singapore’s strategic location per se.
1819 to the present day, Singapore has existed
as an “authoritarian capitalism”, a term the
However, it did not last long. When the USA
for geopolitical and economic reasons – which
German philosopher Sloterdijk, has often
devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for-
have made it the world’s busiest port today,
used. In fact, he has on a few occasions given
cing the Japanese to surrender, Singapore
in terms of shipping tonnage.
Singapore as an apt example of that term.
there came a short lull in Singapore’s political
With regards to its evolution over the last
Singapore’s striking parallel to ‘Brave New
history, although there was internal social
forty years since independence, Lee Kuan Yew,
World’ is its one-party rule since indepen-
disarray due to disregard for the rule of the
had boasted of taking Singapore from the
dence that has assumed an almost parental
British who were not fully protected from
status of a third-world nation-state to that of
authority over its citizens. One man, Lee Kuan
Japan. Independence movements arose
a first-world nation-state. In truth, Singapore’s
Yew, has led that single party since 1965.
was given back to the British. At this point,
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
ASIA
Forty years of psychological conditioning by
is no press freedom (ranked 153rd out of 195
an ‘authoritarian capitalism’, which Christo-
this parental party, under this father figure,
countries), no legal, political rival is allowed
pher Lingle, in his book ‘Singapore’s Authori-
has rendered its residents absolutely docile
to exist in competition with the ruling party,
tarian Capitalism’, describes in great detail
– so much so that everyone is convinced that
and yet the country has achieved a high
coming too the conclusion that it was needed
the state is above individual and family and
economic status with a relatively strong
to make Singapore democratic. This article
that to achieve productive efficiency is the
currency compared to the other countries of
by comparison is aiming not to show the
primary function of a Singaporean. Everything
the region. Freedom therefore is not a pre-re-
need for Democracy in Singapore, but to illus-
else is secondary.
quisite for capitalism in Singapore, something
trate, among other things how, in the process
that Huxley portrayed in ‘Brave New World’.
of this particular country’s transformation,
More than half of the major businesses in
No wonder Sue Anne Tellman in her online
society, the individual and the family have
Singapore are state-owned through govern-
article about Singapore (published in the New
been conditioned and channelled (and thus
ment entities like the Government of Singa-
Internationalist, January 1995) described it as
considerably disrupted) in order to fulfil a
pore Investment Corporation and Temasek
‘Happy-Face Fascism’. Eleven years later
specific task on behalf of a parent state. The
Holdings.They account for sixty percent of the
(January 2006), John Cobin, Ph.D., wrote two
disruption of the individual and the family can
country’s GDP. With no natural resources
articles about Singapore for the Times
be clearly seen in the small country’s divorce
(even the water supply is inadequate), no
Examiner, and entitled them ‘Brave New
rates (3 out of 10 marriages end in divorce),
agriculture, and with little manufacturing of
Singapore’.
suicide rates (1 suicide per day) and low
its own, Singapore has entered deeply into
fertility rates (1.29 children per woman). The
international financial markets and services
Singapore has avoided Western Liberalism
current Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, in
but all at the expense of individual freedom.
but has simultaneously concocted ‘Asian
his first National Day Rally, in 2004, dedicated
Politics is not to be discussed in public, there
Democracy’ and ‘Asian Values’ to camouflage
the last part of his speech to ‘babies’, but the
Singapore’s Mentor Minister, Kuan Lee Yew, architect of the ‘Brave New World’ on the former Sultanate of Johor.
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31
ASIA
fruits of that massive public campaign have yet to be reaped. Women are expected to maintain a productive efficiency and often cannot afford a first pregnancy, let alone the expense of having a a second baby; hence the consequent breakdown of the family. Singaporeans have also been completely submerged into state-sponsored religions, which usually bear the prefix ‘moderate’. Religion itself, regardless of whether it is Buddhism, Christianity, Islam or Hinduism, has been confined to the places of worship or to the four walls of one’s own room. The Muslim heritage that comes from the old Singapura under the Johor Sultanate has been completely erased and refashioned to suit the island’s Brave New World raison d’être. Religion in Singapore, and Islam in particular – since Singapore was initially part of a Sultanate – has gone through such methodical restructuring and censorship that it would be more appropriate to describe it as ritualism; in the case of Islam, Islamic ritualism. The education structure in Singapore, with its student streaming system at every level – primary to tertiary – brings to mind Brave New World’s Alphas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons.The young population is conditioned from a very early stage in life to move in the direction of the professions that are ‘suitable’ for them. Those who are groomed to be at the top control and those who are trained to be at the bottom toil. The population of Singapore today no longer reflects the people of the previous British colony, let alone the people of the old Sultanate. The current population is living in what Aldous Huxley once termed ‘crowd delirium’; ‘Everyone belongs to everyone else.’ As such the nation exists without the
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
ASIA
individual and the family as they all do what
Singapore, business school professor, Koh
delegation on public administration recently.
everyone else does.Any traveller in Singapore
Seng Kee, correctly pointed out some time
Because of this new boastful diplomacy, Dr.
who is familiar with Huxley’s work would
ago, “Should there be a financial or political
Mahathir sarcastically called Lee Kuan Yew,
quite easily observe the atomised nature of
crisis, the wealth of Singaporeans will
‘the great man from the little country’ and
the society in the early morning and evening
dissipate quickly.”
‘little Emperor’. He then continued, ”(Malay-
commuting, when crowds move in and out
sia) should not have anymore problems now.
of the CBD area; the family is broken and the
A new legislation entitled the Public Order Act
We have been told the direction to take.” But
people live to serve those in power. In Huxley’s
(POA) was passed in April 2009 boosting the
it is likely with the repercussions of the
words, there is ‘no leisure from pleasure.’ In
discretionary powers of the People’s Action
financial crisis, that Singapore will forward
Singapore; ‘Life is Work.’
Party-led government, under the pretext of
new economic ambitions to work with
fighting terrorism. It bans any outdoor
Malaysia. Lee Kuan Yew’s belief in the
The city-state is a company and the citizens
activity deemed by the state as political in
Malaysian merger and the unity of the two
are shareholders irrespective of personal
nature even a single individual unless that per-
territories seems never to have faded.
choice. One fifth of the income of most citizens
son has a permit from the government.
is deducted monthly and transferred to their
The one-party rule, government control of
CPF (Central Provident Fund) account and
It has further restricted laws on the media.
businesses, structuralisation of education and
locked up until retirement when they receive
The spectacular economic downturn of the
economy, psychological conditioning of the
measly allowances from it over a number
country has put great pressure on the people
population, censure of religion and the media,
of years, or which may be used to pay for
and the passing of the POA seems to have
classification of the masses, the strict penal
housing loans. This Central Provident Fund is
facilitated the policing of anyone who tries
code, and the latest passing of the POA, all
then invested in other international projects
to respond or comment on the situation,
bring to light the silent oppression that is
and in financial stock exchanges. Over the past
including the legal political parties rivaling
hidden behind the tourist image.
few years, the government has been distri-
the PAP.
buting dividends to citizens from such
Singapore proves to be an excellent case
investments. On the contrary, it could well
Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, who refused
study of how the greater Muslim world was
be termed the Central Deprivative Fund as it
to step down from the government after he
purchased and divided and how the Muslims
deprives 20 per cent of every month’s labour
left the Prime Minister post in 1990, made a
today generally are being beguiled to live for
under the pretext of investments and savings
recent one-week visit to Malaysia where he
the state, and by extension for the world
for the future.This is usury.This is authoritarian
mentioned that Singapore regards the lands
economy. The two other nations from the
capitalism.
within a radius of 6,000 miles as its hinterland.
Sultanates of the Malay Archipelago –
An area that includes Beijing and Tokyo as
Malaysia and Indonesia – are also moving in
According to two BBC reports on 18th March
well as Malaysia and Indonesia. In a critical
the direction of a authoritarian capitalism
and 15th June 2009, with the onset of the
reply to this, former Prime Minister of
and Brave New World status so that they too
world financial crisis, the Singapore econo-
Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir, echoing Lee Kuan Yew,
may be embraced by the World Community
my suffered a great blow that reduced its
said, “Of course this self-deluding percep-
– Singapore already having successfully been so.
exports dramatically and shrunk its GDP
tion places Singapore at the centre of a vast
growth. Its economy is shrinking at a faster
region. It is therefore the latter day Middle
pace than at any time in its recent history –
Kingdom (the Ancient Middle Kingdom
In terms of its economy, politics, society, and
by as much as ten percent in the last year.
being China). The rest is peripheral and is
other factors beyond the scope of this essay,
Unemployment rates have shot up: 12,000
there to serve the interest of this somewhat
such as international relations and the
workers retrenched and 200,000 jobless
tiny Middle Kingdom.” Lee Kuan advised
military, Singapore is the perfect model that
foreign workers expected to leave Singapore
Malaysian politicians on how to run the
those in control of the world want subservient
by the end of this year. National University of
country, the same way he advised a Tataristan
states to follow.
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EUROPE
Brussels.The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)
GROWING TENSIONS IN EUROPE
is naturally both “concerned and alarmed”
ENGLAND'S PREJUDICE TAKES TO THE STREETS
at this development.
Question Time
Single issue, anti-Muslim parties or “citizens’
In October, the infamous BNP leader Nick
movements” have become a part of Western
Griffin made his first appearance on the BBC’s weekly political programme, Question
European life. In Germany and many other states,
Time. The BBC’s decision to invite him on the
it is clear that they are not without influence.
show was a controversial one and resulted in several high profile politicians refusing to appear alongside the fascist party leader.
In recent years, extreme right wing
movement in Britain. While they provoked
The BBC’s studios were held under siege
movements have mobilised against Muslims
violent reactions among the Muslim
during filming, as members of the public
and their presence – not just in one parti-
youth, the EDL made it clear well ahead of
stood side-by-side with politicians to
cular country, but throughout Western
the protests in Harrow that they wanted to
condemn Griffin’s appearance on the
Europe. Together with so-called “citizens’
demonstrate against the “jihadists in our
programme. Other BBC studios across the
movements” and a massive online pre-
society.”
country were also targeted.
As the editor of the online magazine, “Asians
The BBC claimed that due to impartiality laws,
in Media”, Sunny Hundal, commenting on
they had no choice but to invite him on the
In England in recent months, several right
the recent attitude within the media
show, after the party won seats in the
wing groups have spoken out against what
(including the BBC), to allowe the BNP among
European elections. He was joined on the
they feel is the Islamisation of Europe.
others to enter the discussion, said that the
panel by the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw,
attempt to defeat the BNP through rational
the Conservative spokesman on community
There have been anti-Muslim demonstrations
argument was a mistake. It would probably
cohesion, Baroness Warsi, the Liberal
organised by the BNP (British National Party),
have been better not to offer the neo-fascists
Democrat’s home affair’s spokesman, Chris
SIOE (Stop the Islamisation of Europe) and the
a platform. This would not have been an
Huhne and American playwright, Bonnie
EDL (English Defence League) in the Midlands’
attempt to ban the party, but merely a ”demo-
Greer.
city of Birmingham and in the London
cratic decision by right-thinking people not
borough of Harrow – not merely involving
to share a platform with fascists.”
sence, they have an enormous potential for anti-Muslim resentment.
He was questioned about his views on Islam and said, “It does not fit in with the funda-
the radical section of the anti-Muslim The Muslim newspaper The Muslim Weekly
mental values of British society” but that is
drew parallels between the recent protests
had “good points”. He also claimed that
against mosques – or the so-called “Islamisa-
“indigenous” Britons faced “genocide.”
tion of England” – and the electoral success
Speaking to BNP supporters, he boasted that
of the BNP in last year’s European elections.
he was “relishing the opportunity.” Prime
The events wer “A bad day, because the
Minister Gordon Brown, speaking before the
extreme right have challenged our British
programme said that he was confident that
democratic values.”
Mr. Griffin would be exposed for his unacceptable views. At several points during the
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
They could – like other parties in the rest of
show, Griffin was booed by hostile members
Europe – create a mandate for themselves in
of the audience and labelled “a disgrace”.
EUROPE
Birmingham On 4th September, the English Defence League (EDL) attempted to demonstrate against “Islamic extremism” in Birmingham’s city centre. Their appearance provoked clashes with counter demonstrators, among whom were members of the local Muslim community. The rally came about as the result of previous clashes in August between the EDL and the British alliance, Unite Against Fascism, in which 35 people were arrested. According to reports, a total of 80 people were apprehended in the latest clashes. Additional EDL supporters were arrested as they attempted to make their way into the city centre by coach. Once the event became known, the city’s Muslims – contrary to the advice of police – participated in the counter-demonstrations.
Nick Griffin, triumphant BNP leader after the last European elections.
According to Dr. Mohammed Naseem,
chaos after the rival groups clashed on
rejected the allegations as an “incitement of
chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque and
August 4th. Birmingham’s City Council issued
hatred.” “There has been a mosque in
renowned figure in the Muslim community in
a statement praising the police’s “successful
Harrow for 35 years and it is therefore a part
central England, the presence of Muslims in
management” of the event.
of the local landscape,” said David Ashton, leader of Harrow council. It was a “great
the protest was an important statement made against anti-Islamic fascism. “I think it shows
Others were not so complimentary. Labour MP
shame” that fascists and preachers of hate
that the community has got a sense of
Khalid Mahmood accused the police of failing
found it necessary to bring their “extreme
cohesion,” he continued.
to prevent the riots. He said that the police
views” to bare in the area.
had let down innocent members of the public When asked if it would perhaps have been a
and suggested, “The force needs to look at
According to reports, about 2,000 people
better idea to encourage Muslims not to
things at the highest level.”
gathered on the streets around the mosque, in order to demonstrate their solidarity.
attend the rally at all, he said, “The thing is, it is their right. I cannot say ‘you don’t have
Harrow
The event was organised by the NGO, Unite
this right’.” Dr. Naseem took great pains to
In the London borough of Harrow, symbo-
Against Fascism (UAF). “The English Defence
emphasise that members of Birmingham’s
lically on September 11th, protests were
League and other groups wanted to march
Muslim community were not encouraged to
directed at the planned central mosque. The
against the mosque and shout at Muslims,”
attend the protests alone, but rather to form
mosque, which is due to open its doors next
said Weyman Bennett, secretary of the UAF,
allegiances with other counter-demonstrators
year, will be the largest in the capital. “Our
“instead they were held back by normal
such as members of other religious denomi-
problem is the mosque in Harrow,” said one
people from all sections of the community
nations and socialist groups.
of the protesters. “It is almost as big as
who came to show their solidarity with the
Wembley [stadium] – five floors. This is not
Muslims of Harrow.”
What was initially planned as a two-hour
good for community cohesion.” Non-Muslim
“stationary protest” turned into scenes of
politicians and civil rights activists have
Unfortunately, there were violent confronta-
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EUROPE
to provoke violence on British streets, and
In countries such as Denmark, Italy or the
said that although the number of actual
Netherlands, central government indifference
demonstrators was small, “We are taking the
has driven the traditional conservatives into
situation seriously.” Denham drew parallels
introducing elements within their local and
with the anti-Semitic rallies of the 1930’s,
national legislations, aimed specifically
organised by the famous British fascist,
against Muslims. The following key points
Oswald Mosley. In Denham’s opinion,
are reason enough for us to keep a close eye
”Violence only plays into the hands of the
on the situation in England:
Islamophobes” he felt were behind the protests. “If you look at the type of demons-
The atomisation of European societies, driven
tration they’ve organised… it looks pretty
by the decoupling of entire communites or
clear that it’s a tactic designed to provoke a
social groups and a fear of poverty has caused
response and hopefully to create violence.”
the potential for conflicts to rise to the
The aim was to then to accuse those who
surface. This contributes to a process of
were provoked into overreaction.
decay, which then breaks out into irrational violence, such as sudden acts of violence in
Dark clouds on the horizon?
schools. In terms of social resentment against
If we could regard these as isolated events,
minorities, for example, against the Sinti and
it would give us some peace of mind. We are
Romani gypsies in Central Europe, the old
not so sure that this is so. Similar protests in
political dialectic of “Right” and “Left” no
tions on the fringes of the demonstrations
Cologne, Brussels and other European cities
longer exists.
between protestors and young Muslims, who
against mosques or against the feared
were provoked by the demonstrators pre-
“islamisation of Europe” demonstrate a
The famous “centre” is itself vulnerable, since
sence. Police units came between the two
new stage of mobilisation in terms of anti-
racism has been replaced by new prejudices.
opposing groups. “While the anti-fascist
Muslim sentiment.
During demonstrations, state institutions
demonstration remained mainly peaceful,
are placed between the two camps, against
there were sporadic clashes when a group
In recent years, protagonists of this tangled
whom they must defend the security of public
of racists attempted to approach the mosque
conspiracy theory have made their imaginary
spaces. In this they deserve the support of
itself,” said Bennett in the media. The UAF
fears public, particularly over the Internet.
Muslims who due to their religious views
laid responsibility with “racists” who tried
Actual protests, which unfortunately cannot
ought to reject any form of anarchy.
to intimidate Muslims. Local politicians
be restricted to the right wing, have without
condemned the violence in Harrow and later
question, taken on a new quality.
Site of the new mosque in Harrow.
insisted that a “message of peace and
As with other social groups, there is a potential for violence among the Muslim
solidarity” had been made clearly audible to
Along with such resentment on the streets of
those who opposed unity in the area.
Europe, single issue, anti-Muslim parties or
ideology” in order to manifest itself. A look
youth. This does not need any “extremist
“citizens’ movements” in local and/or regio-
at the videos and pictures from the rally in
Historical parallels
nal parliaments have, unfortunately, become
Harrow, will corroborate this conclusion.
British politicians also reacted to the recent
a part of Western European life. While, for
rallies. Birmingham and Harrow are only two
example in Germany, the governing bourgeois
Europeans – Muslims and non-Muslims alike
examples of the increased public presence
political
– are well advised to take a closer look at the
of the BNP, SIOE and EDL. John Denham,
development has apparently ignored these
Gordon Brown’s Communities’ Secretary
groups, it is clear that they are not with-
accused the anti-Muslim groups of wanting
out influence.
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
centre
of
this
ideological
situation in England. Text By Adil Morrison & S. Wilms
EUROPE
36
37
MIDDLE EAST
Text By Karin Leukefeld
Reason for new conflicts? Man washing in a Palestinian refugee camp.
It is Friday in Damascus’ Old City. There is a
BAD NEIGHBOURHOOD
convivial atmosphere on Harika Square, near
THE WATER CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST GROWS
the famous Al-Suk Hamidiye. Instead of the hectic everyday noise, you can hear the laughter of boys enthusiastically kicking a
Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the occupied
ball back and forth. Men and women, young
Palestinian territories have all suffered due to
and old, sit on the benches and observe the spectacle. They talk to one another, eating
Israel's great thirst for water. Israel at present
ice creams, whilst some look lost in thought
occupies the Lebanese Shebaa farms, an area of
at the water feature in the fountain in the middle of the square.The sun sets behind the
great strategic importance with regards to the
Darwish Pasha Mosque’s minaret, its last rays
supply of water. Settlements and plantations have
bathe the square in velvet red.
emerged there and are supplied with water that Syria and Lebanon need, but not as much as their southern neighbours, Jordan and Palestine. The authors behind the study “Rising Temperatures, Rising Tensions” appreciate that climate change is likely to increase tensions in the region.
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
Water was the source of Damascus’ wealth. The flower-entwined fountains were a bird paradise. Today, it is still possible to come across sebil, small drinking fountains, in streets and squares at which the people of the city can refresh themselves at anytime. The waters of the Barada River and the Figeh Spring in the nearby Anti-Lebanon Mountains
MIDDLE EAST
turned Damascus into an oasis in the Syrian
centimetres. Without the measures being
the wasteful misuse of water. The Authority
basalt desert, giving the city the name
taken in terms of rationing, there would be
is active at all levels, says Mwafak Khallouf,
”paradise on earth.” The French philosopher
no water at all. Currently,” Khallouf conti-
as he talks about a meeting with imams, the
Constantin François de Volney wrote enthu-
nues, “we can only provide three hours of
spiritual leaders of mosques: “Persistently, I
siastically about his visit to Damascus at the
fresh water per day, that’s all there is. Outside
explained the situation to them and
end of the 18th century: “Many streams flow
of the city, it’s even worse. Sometimes we
explained why it was so important for them
from the mountains, which transform the area
can provide fresh water every two or three
to call the faithful to save water. Before and
of Damascus into the best irrigated and -
days for a couple of hours at a time. Our
after the prayer, they wash themselves.
loveliest city in Syria. The Arabs only speak
hands are tied. The scarcity of water is very
Nevertheless they should still save water and
of the city with enthusiasm and never tire of
severe.”
speak to others about the severe water shortage. Nobody should waste water.”
praising the verdancy and the freshness of the orchards, the abundance and variety of fruits,
Water-saving campaigns
the number of springs, as well as the clarity
Syria is an agricultural country. The main
As around 60 per cent of the 27 million Syrians
of the fountains and waters.”
producing regions comprise of four zones
are under the age of 15, they are predomi-
running east west across the country. The
nantly concentrating on the youth. Children
Those days are over. Syria is witnessing its
most fertile areas lie to the west on the Medi-
are receptive to novelty, says Khallouf as he
worst drought in 40 years. It has barely rained
terranean and the Orontes River, where the
explains that it is the school’s water-clubs
in the region for the fourth year in a row;
yearly rainfall and underground water springs
and youth organisations who are the pioneers;
rivers, springs and underground reservoirs
are well replenished. The Euphrates coming
their members making sure that taps are
are drying up.The city’s water fountains often
from Turkey and crossing Syria towards Iraq,
properly turned off. They are also receiving
remain dry, a muddy brew evaporates in the
is also fertile,irrigating even the cotton fields.
help from experts from Germany. Khallouf
ponds of mosques and stately homes, which
To the northeast of the country, the small
explains: “A German Development Service
once enjoyed ducks and fish.
Khabur River used to provide prolific agricul-
employee is very active in the campaign to
ture. But the rain is staying away and the
save water. She has become known in
drought is having dramatic consequences.
Damascus, her name is Christin. She is very
Water is being rationed, said Basil, who works
famous within schools.”
as a chef in a small hotel.“Figeh water comes straight out of the tap. It is so good that we are
Over the last two years, farmers in the region
able to drink it,” he says enthusiastically, as
have yielded 50 per cent less than previous
Christin Lüttlich’s office is on the upper floor
he turns the tap in order to demonstrate. But
years. Small farmers and ranchers have lost
of the Damascus Governorate’s Water and
the tap stays dry. Basil glances at his watch
up to 80 per cent of their herds because they
Sewerage Authority, overlooking the time-
and shrugs his shoulders. “Nothing there, it’ll
were unable to find pasture, according to a
honoured Hejaz railway station in the city
probably be there this evening. Water from
report by the United Nations. More than a
centre. The employee of the German
the other tap comes from a tank, but it isn’t
quarter of a million people have left their
Development Service is fluent in Arabic and
safe to drink.”
villages and farms behind and sought their
along with four Syrian co-workers she heads
fortunes working as day labourers in the cities.
the campaign to save water. “Children and
The Barda used to flood in spring leaving the
teenagers are the water users of tomorrow
small cafés and shops submerged, recalls
Climate change and drought are not the only
and they have to change their habits,” she
Mwafak Khallouf, director of DWSSA,
things putting pressure on Syria. Population
said. This is better communicated with
Damascus Governorate’s Water and Sewerage
growth and increasing industrialisation
humour, as opposed to orders and prohi-
Authority. Thirty years ago, the snow in his
call for a new awareness of the precious
bitions. A cartoon that was produced for
home village was up to four metres high.
commodity that people took as a God-given
the water campaign tells the story of a
“We had to shovel a path in order to get to
gift. Damascus Governorate’s Water and
water spirit, which loses its breath through
school. Now it snows just ten or twenty
Sewerage Authority wants to put a stop to
excessive water use, such as in car washing,
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MIDDLE EAST
showering and housework.The saviour of the
could equip participating schools with taps
The Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
day is one young Jasmine, who explains to
and demonstrate the ways in which modern
is a central partner in Syria’s transformation.
her parents that they have to be careful with
equipment can be used to reduce water
Under the project leader, Jochen Rudolph,
water. “We have been able to attract
consumption.
who has coordinated the work in the water
businesses that have contributed prizes for
sector for the last two years, workshops will
competitions in school and universities, and
Drinking water first
be organised, working practices standardised
under the slogan ‘Do Good and Talk About
The federal government has encouraged
and made more effective, as well as services
It’, they have strenghtened their image”,
German company involvement in Syria’s
and accounting to be modernised with a
water and sanitation sector. Public Private
typical German thoroughness.
reports Lüttich.
Partnership (PPP) is the magic phrase; with A German company providing sanitation
PPPs creating new markets within the frame
The commitment to water in Syria is of
facilities would like to participate. The
of development for medium-sized German
strategic importance for the federal govern-
company, which already has an outlet in a
companies. In Syria, there are several involved
ment of Germany; the proximity of Syria to
residential neighbourhood in Damascus,
in the restructuring of the water sector.
Europe, personal links between both countries through the many Syrians living in Germany, Syria’s special position in the Middle East,
The Jordan River stems from the Lebanese Mount Hermon, flows
as well as the “central and sensitive”
through the Syrian Golan, the Shebaa Farms and the Tiberias,
importance of water to the entire region.The
also known as the Sea of Galilee, where it flows as a border
topic of “water” has become the focus of
between Israel, the Palestinian West Bank and Jordan and
bilateral relations, according to a brochure
ebbs a further 320 kilometres south of the Dead Sea. While
from the German embassy in Damascus. Whether it is irrigation, agriculture, the
Syria and Lebanon have access to other water sources, Israel,
environment, building or health, many
Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories are almost
government departments have a say in the
entirely dependent on the River Jordan as a lifeline, although
distribution of water. Even though agricul-
there are still some underground reservoirs.
ture is by far the largest consumer of water, with more than 70 per cent usage, with households and industry needing far less, competition and conflicts of interest have not failed to appear. “The need for cooperation between government departments is always present; this is not something specific to Syria, it is also apparent in Germany,” said Jochen Rudolph, GTZ project leader.“It was important that the Syrian government made the decision to prioritise the supply of drinking water and water to industry over the supply of water to agriculture.” Implementing this was not always easy “Because with a growing population and increasing industrialisation, one has to take something from one group and give
GLOBALIA
| Issue 07 | January 2010
MIDDLE EAST
something to the other. This naturally leads to conflict”.
Water resources in the Middle East
According to Mwafak Khallouf of the DWSSA, agriculture is the most problematic sector. Farmers need to rethink, find other means of irrigation. “We collaborate with farmers and see what it is that they need. If a farmer is planting something that consumes a lot of water, I try to discourage them. If there is no other way, then he gets the money that he would
Water is the most widespread natural product in the world. It covers more than 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface, but only 1 per cent of its global resources, which account for 2.4 billion km3, is fresh water. Even so, theoretically, this could be enough for a population five or ten times the present number living on Earth.
1,000 m3 a year, and will fall to 600 m3 in 2050, compared with a global standard of 1,700 m3. This is an average figure. In some water-poor countries, like Jordan, this indicator does not surpass 500 m3 a year. In the opinion of some experts, the H2O formula will soon become a formula for peace in the Middle East.
The question, therefore, is not the availability of water, but its distribution over the globe. Water resources (we refer to only fresh water for the purposes of this article) are spread unevenly across the globe, with the Middle East and Northern Africa being the least supplied with it. In that part of the world, water has always been an issue causing clashes between tribes, regions and states.
The situation in the Arab-Israeli conflict zone is most alarming, because the parties to the conflict are divided not only by water-related, but also by political and military contradictions. This concerns the Israeli-Syrian water “knot” on the Golan Heights, water arteries in Southern Lebanon, and deposit waters on the Western bank of the Jordan River.
have got from his harvest. The main thing is that he does not use the water that we need for people to drink. This is the top priority.”
Israel’s thirst for water At an international flower exhibition in Teshrin Park, a popular destination in Damascus, the water flows in streams into the flowerbeds, fountains and canals from dripping pipes and cranes. The plants show their gratitude with splendid colours and intoxicating fragrances. Orchids and roses, lavender and tulips, even heather are on display. Creams, perfumes, soaps and honey, conserves and dried herbs are sold from small stalls. A theatre troupe enchants the children; the parents listen to lectures on rare plants or marvel at a photo exhibition showing the world from above.
The main aspect of the water problem in this area is the trans-boundary nature of water sources: the most significant rivers, like the Nile, Euphrates, Tigris, Jordan and Yarmuk, flow through more than one country. Their origins lie in non-Arab lands, which makes water distribution doubly complicated.
Two students look with fascination at a picture of the Assad Dam, the dam on the north of the Euphrates.“The picture shows his country from a completely different perspectiv,” says Kemal Al-Khateeb, who is training as an interpreter. His friend Samer Abdallah agrees with him. Although he spent 16 years living in Aleppo, close to the dam, he had never seen an aerial photograph. They are both aware of Syria’s water problem, “It’s no secret, the media are reporting it and we notice it at home.We only get water every two or three days, without the tank we are
With water essential for living, both for human consumption and food production, its availability or lack becomes a matter of national security. So contradictions occasionally flaring up between, for example, Israel and its neighbours, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and Egypt with the Sudan and Ethiopia, make the military and political escalation of these disputes very likely. Eventually, water will join oil as a conflictgenerating resource in the Middle East. The water situation is worsening; its quota per person in the region is now below
Although Israel and Jordan have signed a peace treaty, water distribution still has rough edges. Regular Syrian-Jordanian disagreements on the water resources in the Jordan-Yarmuk basin relate to Syria and Israel having no peace treaty. A solution could be an all-embracing cooperation in water supplies, with regions having the least reserves (population numbers should also be taken into account) able to receive it from areas which are as yet far from having a water crisis. Such an approach could see hydro-schemes being built, enabling water to be accumulated and transported across borders. The one, outstanding condition is an end to the military and political conflict and a higher level of confidence and cooperation. (RIAN) The author is the director of Rusya al-Yaum News Channel of Russia Today. Text By Aydar R. Aganin
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MIDDLE EAST
left sitting on dry land”, said Samer Abdallah. Although he would not discuss politics, his friend Kemal said, “There is a conflict between us and Turkey. They cut the water supply to the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, which supply 70 per cent of our water in the north. We give Jordan and Iraq from our own drinking water. They are our neighbours, so we cannot simply say no.” In ten years, Kemal is convinced “That water will be more valuable than oil.” Everyone has to save water, he says, the farmers have to rethink. “New irrigation methods are indeed expensive for the farmers, but it has to be that
The Middle Eastern geopolitics of water pays no regard to national boundaries.
way for the future. We can no longer take water for granted.”The lack of rain and pollu-
Israel’s great thirst for water. Israel is occupy-
contaminated with human excrement and
tion are problems – as is of course Israel,
ing the Lebanese Shebaa farms, an area that
waste in villages, temporarily occupied by the
“We had the Golan Heights; there is a lot
is of great strategic importance with regards
Israeli army. Israel has refused to sign inter-
of water there and arable land.And Israel just
to the supply of water. The 22-square-
national agreements such as UN Resolution
simply occupied it. No idea how we are to
kilometre territory lies below the water-rich
51/229 (1997) on the use of unnavigable
solve it, but the fact is that we need water.”
Mount Hermon and along with the Hasbani
waterways and instead has dictated its own
and Banias rivers is considered the source
terms to its neighbours. Jordan, who agreed
The political tensions in the region could be
region of the Jordan River. In 1965 Syria and
to the 1994 peace treaty with Israel and recei-
further exacerbated in the future due to the
Lebanon began to channel water from both
ves 75 million cubic metres of water from the
water shortage, according to the authors of
rivers for irrigation and removing the need for
River Jordan in return for a secure eastern
“Rising Temperatures, Rising Tensions”. Is
Israeli access. Two years later, Israel attacked
border, as if the water were Israeli property.
there the threat of a war over water in the
and destroyed the two channels, occupying
region? Mwafak Khallouf hopes that it
the water-rich areas and refusing to leave
Bone of contention
doesn’t come to that. Even if it hasn’t always
them to this day.
The Jordan River stems from the Lebanese
been the case, Turkey and Syria are currently
Mount Hermon, flows through the Syrian
getting on well; they could come to an
Settlements and plantations have emerged
Golan, the Shebaa Farms and the Tiberias,
agreement over the distribution of water from
there supplied with water that Syria and
also known as the Sea of Galilee, where it
the Tigris and Euphrates. Things are more
Lebanon need, but not as much as their
flows as a border between Israel, the
difficult, however, with Israel, “Israel is our
southern neighbours, Jordan and Palestine. In
Palestinian West Bank and Jordan and ebbs
biggest and only enemy here in the Middle
2002, a new aqueduct was built in southern
a further 320 kilometres south of the Dead
East, and they are using our water! If Syria
Lebanon designed to transport water from the
Sea. While Syria and Lebanon have access to
gets back the Golan Heights, then the water
River Wazzani into the surrounding villages.
other water sources, Israel, Jordan and the
situation will ease. I hope there isn’t a war
The then Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon
occupied Palestinian territories are almost
over water.”
declared the development “Casus Belli”, and
entirely dependent on the River Jordan as a
in the 2006 war the water network was
lifeline, although there are still some under-
Like Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the occupied
almost entirely destroyed by the Israeli air
ground reservoirs. While the other Arab
Palestinian territories have all suffered from
force. Ponds and wells were deliberately
countries bordering Jordan attempt to come
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
MIDDLE EAST
to cross-border agreements, Israel continue
river, because they have been contaminated.”
Amnesty International recently released a
to go it alone, and literally leaves the others
The over-exploitation of the Jordan, the exces-
report , which states,“The inequality in access
sitting on “dry land”. Each year, they extract
sive digging of wells and the coast has led
to water between the Israelis and the
more from the river system than Syria,
to the salinisation of groundwater, which is
Palestinians is striking. Palestinians in the
Lebanon, Jordan and the occupied Palestinian
unable to regenerate due to poor rainfall.
occupied areas have about 70 litres per day per person. That is far less than the 100 litres
territories put together.The annual flow of 1.3 billion cubic metres of water has fallen to
By the time the Jordan reaches the Dead Sea,
per day recommended by the World Health
less than 100 million cubic metres in the last
it is only dirty mud. The surface of the Dead
Organisation (WHO). The Israelis, however,
50 years.Today, the River Jordan mainly trans-
Sea falls by one metre a year, with the inflow
use around 300 litres per day per person, four
ports waste-water, according to the environ-
from the Yarmouk River running parallel to
times as much. In some rural areas (…) the
mental organisation, Friends of the Earth in
Jordan’s King Abdullah Canal, which supplies
Palestinians have less than 20 litres per day.”
the Middle East (FOEME), which was foun-
the Jordanians with water, up to the capital,
ded in the wake of the Israeli-Palestinian
Amman. “It is particularly scarce in the -
The authors behind the study “Rising
peace agreement in 1994 and has offices in
summer,” explains Mohammad Nawasra,“the
Temperatures, Rising Tensions” appreciate
Amman, Bethlehem and Tel Aviv.Their motto,
fields are irrigated once a week and on ano-
that climate change is likely to increase -
‘good partnership for better water’ will be put
ther day we get fresh water for between three
tensions in the region.They also point to new
to the test, explained Abdul Rahman Sultan
to five hours, then we have to fill the tanks
“security issues”; with the tremendous
at the FOEME office in Jordan’s capital,
on the roofs and hope that it’s enough for a
competition for water in the region likely to
Amman. “The situation in Jordan is
week. Some families don’t have many tanks,
complicate
alarming; agriculture, industry, tourism and
so for them things look bleak.”
provisions for the population remain uncer-
peace
agreements, while
tain, economic growth likewise impeded and
households are all competing for water. On top of that, Jordan, Palestine and Israel are
For over 30 years, Nawasra was a teacher in
poverty increasing. The water shortage will
also in competition. Syria and Lebanon share
the community, and is known by all. Since his
lead to migration and a growing militarisa-
water from upper Jordan and the Yarmouk,
retirement, he has headed the FOEME office
tion, in order to safeguard water sources.The
but it isn’t enough for them. The water that
in the village.They have created an eco-park,
significant mistrust that already exists
we get is neither sufficient nor clean.”
which needs to be protected from the increa-
between the Arab states, on the one hand,
singly hungry sheep belonging to the Bedouin.
and the West and Israel, on the other, will
As a unique and cross-border ecosystem,
They collect water and learn how water can
undoubtedly increase.
Jordan has been at the centre of FOEME’s
be saved and how the environment can be
public awareness campaign. Its valley is up
protected.
to 400 metres below sea level, where there are historically significant Jewish, Christian
The environmental activist was also in Israel
and Muslim sites. 90 per cent of the water
as part of his international work:“I have seen
will shortly be diverted by Israel behind the
many settlements in Israel. Incredibly, I have
Sea of Galilee and large parts of the Jordan
not seen a single tank on their roofs.They have
Valley will be militarily controlled by Israel.
running water for 20 hours a day. How do they
Palestinians and Jordanians have often been
do it? Well, right there, where the Jordan
unable to get access to the river, says Nawas-
leaves the Sea of Gallilee, they branch off the
ra, from the town of Sheikh Hussein, “As a
water and pass it through pipes; up to the
child, I was able to go down to the Jordan
desert in the south. 20 hours a day, the Israelis
River.We could drink the water, we were able
have drinking water, not the Palestinians, no,
to swim, to catch the fish and eat them. Now
only the Israelis. And no one has a tank on
we are no longer able to eat the fish from the
the roof.”
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BOOKS
new terms of agreement. Suddenly, this
SLAVES AND STOCK EXCHANGES
poverty stricken Bolivian government has the
JEAN ZIEGLER ON “THE HATRED FOR THE WEST”
money to lead their people out of misery and famine. This is the rational hatred.
The Swiss sociologist and political thinker Jean
Question: Mr. Ziegler, where does this
Ziegler is seen as a critic of globalisation. For
hate stem from?
decades he has fought against famine and poverty
Jean Ziegler: It has two sources. The first
and against those behind the capitalist conditions
source is a wounded consciousness. It’s like
he sees are to blame. For many years he was a
the holocaust; we don’t know why a wounded consciousness, a terrible crime, takes two or
socialist party member of the National Council
three generations to surface. The peoples of
in the Swiss Bundestag. Between 2008-2009 he
the South are now experiencing the same
was the UN special correspondent on the right to nutrition. In 2008 Jean Ziegler was elected to the advisory committee of the Human Rights
thing. Slavery and the colonial massacres are two terrible wounds that continue to live in people’s [collective] memory. Generations after these particular massacres have taken place, these wounded memories have entered
Council.
political consciousness.
Question: Mr. Ziegler, your book “Der
about two forms of hatred. The hatred of the
I would like to tell you an anecdote to illustrate
Hass auf den Westen” has recently been
southern hemisphere, where 4.5 billion of
this point. In December 2007, French President
published. In what way is the West
the world’s 6.7 billion people live, has two
Nicolas Sarcozy is in Algiers for the first time
hated? The age of colonialism is long
very different sides to it. On the side, there
to negotiate oil contracts. The French
since over…
is pathological hatred; this is Al-Qaeda,
delegation sits down at the table at the
terrorism, which is organised crime. Jean Ziegler:The title of my book “The Hatred for the West” can be shocking. My book is
On the other, is a rational hatred, the desire to revolt against the cannibalistic, western
Is child poverty not a form of violence?
presidential palace in Algiers. Before the negotiations even begin, President Bouteflika
established world order. In Bolivia, for example, it has been 3 years since the first democratically elected native president – in 500 years – was elected. There is an incredible identity movement underway, a
says: “First, I want an apology for Setif!” Setif being the terrible massacre that the French Foreign Legion committed against Algerian civilians on 8th May 1945. It left over 42,000 either dead or wounded. Quite upset, Sarkozy answered:“I have not come here for nostalgia.” The response from Bouteflika: “The memory before business.” Subsequently, there were no
democratic opposition movement, which
negotiations. The next state visit that
has arisen from the five major native tribes
Bouteflika was due to make to Paris last July
in the Andean highlands.
was cancelled because an apology for Setif still hadn’t been made.
Evo Morales, thanks to this opposition
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
movement now has the power to take control
Question: What are the reasons for the
of over 200 foreign companies and to direct
schizophrenic attitude of the West?
BOOKS
44
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BOOKS
trated in the hands of a few Western oligarchs
Jeans Ziegler: Today, things are indeed
has a power that has never before been
dictated by the Euro-Atlantic world, along
wielded by any king, emperor or pope in
with a couple of corrupt oligarchies on the
human history.
peripheries of China and India. They have integrated commodity prices in their
Southern peoples see this financial dictator-
commercial exploitation and they still
ship as the last stage of the West’s strategy
continue to plunder the massive South.
of exploitation and oppression. The slaveholders are sitting in the stock exchanges
The Democratic Republic of Congo, a subcon-
that determine the commodity prices and
tinent almost, where people are dying of
speculation, which – although not visible –
starvation by the thousands every single day,
are responsible for hundreds of thousands of
is a geological wonder. There is incredible
starving people. Every five seconds a child
wealth. The looting continues, however, be-
under the age of 10 dies of hunger.
cause the corporations, as in many countries, have been able to utilise corrupt leaders who
In April 2009, the number of chronically
sign up to these exploitative contracts. The
starving people exceeded the one billion
real story, the story of the mobilisation of
mark for the first time. And this on a planet
resistance, of the emergence of life and poli-
teeming with wealth. Today, fate no longer
tical solidarity is taking place in the South.
exists. A child, who as we speak is dying of hunger, is effectively being murdered. This
What is happening with today’s mobilisation
world order, which the West imposes on the
in the Andean Highlands, what is happening
planet, also creates its own theory. The
in Venezuela or Ecuador is radically new.These
West believes in the universality of its own
forces are even emerging in Africa. Marx said
ethnocentric values.
that the revolutionary must be in a position to hear the grass grow. And this grass is
The Swiss author Jean Ziegler.
I have just come from the United Nations
growing everywhere on the periphery of the
General Assembly in New York. Each of the
Western financial dictatorship.
Jean Ziegler: The West with 12.8 per cent of
Western ambassadors, so clever, subtle and
the world’s population is a minority that has
cultivated when he speaks, speaks in the
In your book, you talk about a lot about
ruled over the planet for over 500 hundred
name of humanity, universal values and
the changes taking place in Bolivia and
years. At the end of the fifteenth century,
preaches his teachings to the peoples of
about Evo Morales. Are these real alter-
once the earth was round, after Columbus’
Latin America, Asia and Africa. This basically
natives to the developments of – as you
fourth voyage, there was genocide in Latin
is the paradox of the Western discourse,
call it – ”predatory capitalism”? Many
America.Then there was the slave trade lasting
which stems from a near total blindness,
have criticised the developments in
350 years, followed by 150 years of colonial
produced through material oppression,
Bolivia as totalitarian…
massacres and territorial occupation. Today
which also produces the discourse of
there is a tyranny of global finance capital.
legitimacy. And today, this is no longer
Jean Ziegler: Here, you can have any political
tolerated.
prejudice you like. You can be Left, you can
Last year, according to the World Bank’s own
be Right. We live in free societies in Western
statistics, the world’s 500 largest companies
Question:Will world history now emanate
Europe. But the ignorance and arrogant
dominated 53 per cent of the world’s gross
more and more from the South? Or is
condemnation of the revolutionary move-
production. This financial capital, concen-
that not too utopian a view?
ments on the periphery are unworthy. In fact,
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
BOOKS
a cohesive, communal and solidarity-developing story is taking place in the Andes and among the 12,000 native tribes that make up Bolivia. In many parts of South America, history is being made and we ought to learn from it. But in Europe too, something is happening. I no longer believe in the European nation whose sovereign rights are now determined by the capitalist commodity rational. The EU is nothing more than a corporate board of directors. No values and no ambitions remain. But, there is civil society; a wonderful brotherhood. I went back to the Heiligendamn in the summer of 2007. I was on the other side of the barbed wire. There were 140,000 people from 41 nations of all political persuasions. There were pastors there, Trotskyites, young and old. They were all there and were all driven by moral imperatives, not by the political imperative or any party ideologies. Immanuel Kant said: “The inhumanity that is being done to another, destroys the humanity within me.� This moral imperative is the engine of a new civil society that will no longer tolerate a society in which a child dies of hunger every five seconds. This civil society is very strong in Germany thanks to World Hunger Relief and Greenpeace. The revolt of consciousness will come. Germany is the most vibrant democracy in Europe. There is no weakness in a democracy. Fundamental rights exist and they may be needed to force our government to waive the dumping of EU agriculture in Africa and to the break the bondage binding third world countries, rather than continuously promoting the interests of creditors such as Deutsche Bank and other major banks. I am quite confident this uprising of conscience is imminent.
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au-Prince in the epilogue of his book, La haine
TREMORS IN THE SOUTH
de l’Occident – ‘Hate for the West’. Ziegler’s
JEAN ZIEGLER’S BOOK GETS TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER
latest remarkable work continues to draw the world’s attention to forgotten peoples.
Switzerland’s Jean Ziegler is a well-known author
The Geneva-based professor’s books are more
and for many years was the UN Commissary for
than the literary windmill-tilting of a modern
Hunger. Based in Geneva, the professor criticises
Don Quixote, they are important logbooks of the human catastrophes of our time.
in newspaper articles and interviews the West’s
When he became UN Special Correspondent
centuries-long ignorance of the destitution in
for the Right to Food, his condemnations of the global hunger scandal began to reach a
the South. According to Ziegler the new oligarchic
wide audience. In his lectures, interviews and
power structures are leading the world into an
books, Ziegler not only unmasks structural
abyss.
injustices, he introduces an appropriate – because passionate – language into the age of the Global Economic War.
“In the Southern Hemisphere, epidemics,
latest earthquake may be the media caravan’s
hunger, contaminated water and civil war
latest big topic, but before the quake, few
caused by poverty kill almost as many
were interested in the political chaos inside
for the West, as something beyond the
people each year as the Second World
the former French colony, where a whole
relativities of affluence – the ‘haves’ and the
War killed in six.” (Jean Ziegler, La haine de
nation was virtually living on mud pies as
‘have nots’ – but rather a hate based on an
l’Occident)
food prices had been driven through the roof
emerging revolt against the West’s claim to
by speculators. Switzerland’s Jean Ziegler
hegemony. To illustrate Western blindness to
describes the bleak living conditions in Port-
its own bloody history outside Europe’s
Haiti.The abominable situation following the
In his latest book Ziegler explains the hatred
Haiti: Poverty has been the trademark of the people’s daily life.
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
BOOKS
boundaries, Ziegler describes Sarkozy’s ignorant statements in Africa, where he mocked what he called the Third World’s ”anti-progressive lack of a sense of history”, even while refusing to apologise for France’s own bloody history in Africa – in particular that of Algeria. More and more people in the South are listening to this kind of Western rhetoric with a growing disgust. The latest machinations of the financial industry, according to Ziegler, are a simple continuation of the old colonial practices of exploitation and slavery. His assessment is clear: “From the point of view of the Southern peoples,” writes Ziegler bitterly, “the current globalised order of Western financial capital, with its mercenaries; the World Trade Organisation, the IMF, the World Bank and global corporations, not to mention
A “crook” in the spotlight: Richard S. Fuld from the now defunct Lehmann Brothers.
its neo-liberal ideology, are the latest and by the far the most murderous of the systems
in detail the interplay between the global
the Bolivian Way remains a rocky one, he
of oppression that have been set up over the
thirst for energy supply, quasi-sovereign oil
says, and a range of interests threaten
course of the past five centuries.”
companies, and their “partners” in the Third
Morales daily through the promoting of
World. The sustaining of criminals, the shat-
terror, secession and civil war.
The strength of Ziegler’s books lies in the
tering of whole societies and the instigating
fact that he describes the people at work
of chaos are all acceptable business policies.
At the end of his book Ziegler urges people
behind the structures, the power machinery
Only “shattered politics” can provide an
to remember the values of their civilisation,
and revolts, whom he encounters regularly
environment suitable for Western corporate
Human Rights, and calls on them to initiate
in person. Everywhere there are actors,
pillaging. Even in countries that are nomi-
reforms – which remains the book’s ques-
addressees and recipients of another way of
nally rich, Western money fails to establish a
tionable element. In some places it lacks
thinking and seeing things.
humane nomos.
clarity too about the decisive role of virtual, ”created” money, and as such lacks the
He assembles the harrowing facts in order to
There is little hope. But Ziegler still has some,
provide a framework for the tragic fate of
and, taking Bolivia’s President Evo Morales
foundation for concrete political demands.
those who have lost out from the much-vaunt-
as an example, he shows how a South
ed globalisation. For instance, the fact that
American people have clawed back political
vague term, something akin to a virtual
in Asia’s largest democracy, India, more than
sovereignty against structural foreign rule.
reality, and certainly not a known political
125,000 farmers committed suicide out of
“Morales,” says a simple Bolivian woman to
entity, which can somehow move forward
desperation between 2001 and 2007 comes
Ziegler,“is a poor person like myself, a farmer,
in unison – particularly not without a
over as more than just a mundane statistic.
who has been elected as the Constitutional
revealed set of instructions.
“Humanity”, it should also be noted, is a
President, who has nationalised oil and gas Using the example of Nigeria, Ziegler reveals
... and who has defied imperialism.” But
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GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
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THE NOMOS OF THE EARTH THE MUSLIM PERCEPTION OF THE WORLD AND SPACE
Carl Schmitt, together with Martin Heidegger and Max Weber, is among the most widely-read German thinkers of the twentieth century. Following the dissolution of the nation-states, European thinking has revolved around the search for a new ‘Nomos of the Earth’. What role are the Muslims playing in this respect? Space always used to be part of the world,
determined the human being’s cultural
but today the perception of space has
identity and sense of belonging to a place.
reversed: the world is in space. Perceived this way, man is encapsulated in an empty space,
The process of this spatial revolution now
or, as the existentialists put it, in nothingness.
seems unstoppable. Consequentially, man,
This new way of experiencing our located-
now without a home, is going so far as to try
ness corresponds with the thesis of the
to establish himself on the moon and on
German legal thinker Carl Schmitt, who
Saturn, as if to become the new ruler of space
stated that modern nihilism is characterised
from up there. The old Earth has become
by a peculiar lack of what he calls Ortung,
nothing more than a mere dot, while space
or placement. Indeed Schmitt goes so far as
and nothingness merge in man’s experience
to define nihilism by its radical capacity to
of his own nullity.
separate location and order. Today, the Internet, with its virtual worlds, is one of the
The Old World
symbols of the end of man’s former relation-
The modern world is shrugging off the old
ship with place.
order and locations of the European continent, whether we like it or not.The renowned
The consequences of this modern spatial
places of European culture, be they Rome,
revolution are quite severe. The structures of
Berlin, Paris or Madrid, are becoming level-
order have today become planetary in scale,
led megacities and showplaces for a
and by the same token people are loosing
monolithic culture which neither needs nor
their locality and their connection with their
brings forth any particular sense of place
native homes. The imprinting power of a
at all. The things displayed and consumed in
person’s origin is dissolving in the face of a
the pedestrian precincts of the world’s big
more monotonous world-culture. For hun-
cities are becoming the same everywhere –
dreds if not thousands of years, order and
and so too are the consumers walking in
location as a single intrinsic reality have
those precincts.
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That particular set of dynamics known as
technology only good, the last hope, or even
structures, the power of modern man has
globalisation is, as we can now more clearly
a kind of Ersatz-Religion for modern man.
clearly become relative. The integrative
see since the financial crisis, almost inse-
There is no doubt that technology is now
constraints and automation processes of the
parable from the new global order of finan-
made, expanded, and sometimes even
self-imposing economic zone, and the titanic
cial technique. The networked banks and
worshipped across the globe, and it is also
energy-thirst of the technological project, are
financial institutions are not only verging on
gradually integrating man himself into its
what drive events. Man no longer governs,
megalomania, they are at home everywhere
own technological world. In the struggle
he responds.
and nowhere at once.
for power between technology and the human
It is the world-dominating technique of
being, many sceptics seem unsure what the
Confronted with this new type of human
outcome will be.
who is basically enslaved to technology, the
banking which therefore best embodies the
great German philosopher Martin Heidegger,
actual nature of the transformation of this
And then there is another, increasingly
who reflected for a lifetime on technology,
century. The financial flows are at work
worrying aspect of the rule of technology,
stated that only a “God” could rescue
everywhere, but you cannot pin their power
and that is that the political dimension of the
mankind; a statement by the philosopher
down to a particular point on the globe. The
individual human creature is becoming more
corroborated by the jurist Carl Schmitt when he said that man, as a sovereign entity and as the administrator of a world worth living
It is the world-dominating technique of banking which therefore
in, could only be rescued by a new “Nomos”.
best embodies the actual nature of the transformation of this century. The financial flows are at work everywhere, but you cannot pin their power down to a particular point on the
The Nomos needs People Throughout his life, Schmitt placed great emphasis on the Greek word Nomos. To him,
globe. The new banker, who no longer recognises any nation,
Nomos did not mean human laws alone.
now says: everything is possible if it can be financed, and the
Society’s belief in the sanctity of godless
one in charge is the one who has enough funds!
humanism was shaken to the core by the global destruction of the 20th century and the horrors of Europe’s ideologies. The thesis that humanity itself is the creator and pro-
new banker, who no longer recognises any
and more tenuous. In this age of mighty
tector of justice only barely made it through
nation, now says: everything is possible if it
global financial and technological corpora-
into the modern ethical discourse after the
can be financed, and the one in charge is the
tions, old-style politicians who think in terms
violent and unstoppable death of millions
one who has enough funds!
of nations are permitted to bemoan the
in the Second World War.
demise in sovereignty of their old countries. This extraordinary power invested in finan-
They are now barely able to wield even a
Given the circumstances, Schmitt did not
cial technology demands that we look at the
minimum of political primacy. Only the big
believe that the new Nomos which man
nature of that technology which enables it.
players and their economies have access to
would have to seek and find would be some
What actually is the meaning and the nature
the necessary global instruments in the age
kind of final rationale or a set of meta-laws
of modern technology?
of the one-world economic zone.
designed by man.
In Europe this question has been debated
The Secular Position
What Schmitt recalled was the authentic
vigorously for a long time. Some demonise
In Europe it has long been common
meaning of the Greek word Nomos, which he
technology as “evil”, a growing threat to
knowledge that homo politicus no longer
defined as “Nehmen, Teilen, Weiden” – col-
nature and the creation; others see in
writes history alone. Within the global
lecting, distributing, tending – not a law,
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therefore, but a life-practice which encom-
rediscovers the autonomous law of econo-
independent Islamic rule, which, as we now
passes man, divinity and the world. It was this
mics from its own sources, it will not realise
know, was itself a Nomos.
law-giving basic process of human activity
its full possibility of producing a genuine
which Schmitt considered the genuine
Nomos. The Muslims will then only be in the
The state: national romanticism
”religious” activity of mankind. Within this,
position of “negatively” defining and fighting
It is quite clear that in the age of globali-
the good person, as the repository of law,
an enemy, but not “positively” establishing
sation and the imminent dissolution of natio-
actually embodies the law in all of his or her
Islam as a peaceful Nomos.
nal power, the Muslims will not go on hol-
knowledge and actions. “Law is more than
ding to the antiquated 19th century concept
The Leviathan: Western philosophy of order
too the objective of forming a state, together
Many people all over the world now see in
with the idea of national independence, is
Law, which is normally divinely inspired, is,
the Islamic life-practice a way in which the
an antiquated, nineteenth century, imaginary
according to Schmitt, already there before
human being can return to his experience of
view of social order. It will not take much
the state, which in itself is the political and
place and sense of justice.What is furthermore
adjustment on the part of the Muslims, since
historical product of Christian metaphysics.
remarkable is that Islam’s potential for being
they have always been prepared for a world
It is only the nihilistic, secular state which
a new Nomos in the world is being re-under-
based on freedom of trade-routes and estab-
can no longer differentiate what is right and
stood from within European thought and
lished free economic zones.
just state legality,” states one of Schmitt’s famous key insights.
of the nation-state for very long. In Europe
just from mere legality.According to Schmitt’s
European experience. It is worth remembering
understanding, every system of law in its
that in Europe, national boundaries are
substance is either revealed, or is the subjec-
gradually losing relevance, and that most
The “being-in-the-world” of the Muslims
tive justice of a historical victor who seeks to
European societies have long been de facto
Islam has from the outset two pillars which
impose his policies. But, in order to be a
multicultural. To many Europeans, even the
describe the Muslim’s inner order and
genuine Nomos, policies must not only take
conquest of space and the mastery of the
location in the world: Hajj and the prayer.
(taxes, for example), they must also establish
stars – including “Star Wars” – have become
The spirituality of the Muslim is neither
a permanent, politically and economically
dubious human objectives.
inward-only nor outward-only. These two
just reality.
rites orientate the Muslim within the New elites of European Muslims, especially
totality of his or her world-experience: a
Schmitt’s work is of course now more relevant
because of the modern doctrine of the secular
world, which encompasses the moon, the
than ever before. The crisis of modern law is
nation-state, have become alienated from
earth, geographical direction, the individual,
evident not only in the waging of illegitimate
their received sense of place and justice,
and society in general.
wars, but also in the fact that, without a
through their own way of “being-in-the-
Nomos, peace never follows. In this sense the
world”. The foundation of every nationalism
Millions of Muslims take the pilgrimage to
Gulf War is a stark demonstration that the
is race, something that has always been a
Makkah and Madinah from all over the world,
military victor is not able to establish a Nomos
completely un-Islamic foundation, not to
and there they witness human solidarity and
because he simply does not have one. Instead,
mention a limiting one.
the order which is established, in accordance with its predatory character, restricts itself to
The old division of the world into national
mere taking, whether in raw materials or in
zones is certainly the product of the Western
taxation.
way of viewing location and order. It was this philosophy of order which considered
But even Islam itself is reduced if you take
every rule to be the domination of an area
away from it the revealed quality of a
by a sovereign people. In the Arab world, the
complete Nomos. For example, until Islam
idea of national identity spelled the end of
GLOBALIA | Issue 07 | January 2010
THOUGHT
nearness to the Creator. In every minute of the day, millions of Muslims turn themselves towards Makkah. On the journey to Makkah and Madinah the Muslim experiences an inward and outward completeness, in radical
Dr. Carl Schmitt German Thinker and Jurist
contrast to the helplessly irrational longing of modern man to conquer empty space and the stars.
The German philosopher and expert in constitutional law Carl Schmitt (1888 -1985)
Heidegger’s analysis of Dasein, as a
is considered, alongside Martin Heidegger
necessary, spatial “being-in-the-world” finds
and Ernst Jünger, to be a defining figure of
a fundamental and complete fulfilment in the
German intellectual life of the twentieth
mandatory pilgrimage of Islam. It is not
century.
until he goes on Hajj that the Muslim completes his “being-in-the-world” in the existen-
New books about the thinker continue to
tial experience of the unity of his world. This
appear. However Carl Schmitt is hardly
is a defining experience beyond space and
ever taught at German universities any
time. It is this reflection on the world and its
more because of criticism raised against
existence which forms the character of the
him of being on occasion associated with
and analysis of power, authority and the
Muslim and the Muslim’s understanding
National Socialism (“Crown Jurist of the
actualisation of law, with declared “states
of location.
Reich”).
of emergency” being for him the most
Image: Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach
important indicator when appraising the
The Ummah – a political issue
This accusation led to his social banish-
sovereignty of the political. “The Sovereign
In Europe there is growing doubt as to
ment in Germany. Schmitt defended himself
is the one who disposes over the state of
whether the technological project alone can
against the accusations, pointing to his
emergency,” is how it reads in his political
create an intellectual and spiritual bond
many jewish friends and referring to
theology.
between people, like that called for in the
passages in his works which criticised the
European Anthem. Beethoven’s deeply Euro-
racism of the Nazis. His philosophical
Himself a model of the concept, Schmitt
pean and humane insight into the fraternity
significance is today recognised by both
considered the jurist to be an indepen-
of all people is exemplified by the Ummah,
friend and foe.
dent and incorruptible figure in the face
the world community of Muslims. The unity
of political power. Alongside state and
of Muslims is not a new idea, rather it is an
There is no doubt that his famous books
constitutional law his publications touch
existential consequence of the Islamic life-
“The Concept of the Political”, “Political
upon numerous other disciplines like
practice and its orientation towards Makkah
Theology” and the “Nomos of the Earth”
political science, sociology, theology,
and Madinah. But what is fascinating and
characterise current political debate.
German language and literature studies,
attractive about Islam today is that it also has
and philosophy.
what is necessary to bring about a Nomos for
One of his well known definitions, namely
the Earth. To counter the nihilism described
that the nature of the political is “the
Schmitt drew on the defining influence
by Schmitt at the beginning of this article,
discrimination between friend and foe” is
of political philosophers and political
Islam, uniquely, can bring about peace, and
often cited today and has led him to become
analysts such as, Thomas Hobbes, Niccolò
is itself the unification of order and location.
an enduring and authoritative political
Machiavelli, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Juan
thinker. His thinking, rooted in the catholic
Donoso Cortés and contemporaries like
faith, represented a lifelong questioning
Georges Sorel and Vilfredo Pareto.
Text By Abu Bakr Rieger
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