Arab anti-Americanism

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Arab anti-Americanism
By M. Zaidi | From the Newspaper
Yesterday

IN deconstructing the debate on the irrationality of anti-Americanism in the Arab world we can turn to statistics. Opinion polls conducted by Zogby International polls in 2002 and mid-2004 in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and the UAE sampled the population on a favourable/unfavourable basis.

In 2002, 76 per cent of polled Egyptians had negative perceptions of the US, compared with 98 per cent in 2004; 61 per cent of Moroccans saw the US unfavourably in 2002 and 88 per cent in 2004. The Saudi response increased from 87 per cent in 2002 to 94 per cent in June. Neutral attitudes were observable in Lebanon and improved ones in the UAE.

The main bone of contention was US foreign policy. The Pew Research Centre’s June 2006 report identified three negative westerner stereotypes; selfishness, violence and greed. This view was held by 70 per cent of the polled Middle Easterners.

Amongst the few positive stereotypes elicited, the main ones were devoutness and respect for women.

In Jordan 61 per cent, in Pakistan 27 per cent and in Turkey 16 per cent of those polled held favourable views of Christians, and one, six and 15 per cent respectively of Jews.

Opinion polls demonstrate that many Arab Muslims identify with the Palestine issue with over 50 per cent respondents saying it is ‘extremely important’ in shaping their worldviews about the US.

The US-Israel nexus has arguably been the major cause of anti-American sentiment. US support for Israel has long generated resentment against US policies in the region. An overwhelming majority of Jordanians, Palestinians and Moroccans agree, as well as most Europeans and even a plurality of those polled in Israel. The voice of dissent comes from the Americans, where 47 per cent sees US policies in the region as fair — a case of the US vs the rest.

This ‘support’ is not ephemeral; for Israel which has contravened numerous UN Security Council resolutions American help is nothing less than generous. Israel receives almost $3bn yearly in military and civilian aid from Washington, which is the largest grant by the US to any country. This is equivalent to some $500 on a per-capita basis and much more than the total GNP per capita of many African countries collectively. Out of 59 unilateral vetoes cast by the US at the UN during the period 1972 to 2006, 41 were linked to averting criticism against Israel or to attempts to dissuade Israel from consolidating its occupation of disputed Arab territories.

Meanwhile, a Pew 2003 Global Attitudes Project Survey found a majority of French, Germans and Spaniards and a plurality of Italians and Britons to be of the view that US policy was unfairly tilted towards Israel, notwithstanding the fact that a vast majority of Europeans express support for the right of Israel to exist.

More recent surveys have revealed a strong dislike for US foreign policy but much more nuanced and often positive attitudes towards American society and culture. The 2002 Zogby poll comments that men and women in different age groups have favourable opinions about US education, freedom and democracy while hardly any respondents have a favourable attitude towards US policy.

Academic Ussama Makdisi argues that anti-Americanism is a recent phenomenon fuelled by American foreign policy, not an epochal confrontation of civilisations. While there are certainly those in both America and the Arab world who believe in a clash of civilisations and who invest politically in such beliefs, history belies their thoughts.

It is also significant that the only common ground Middle Eastern communities share is anti-Americanism; significantly; it is perhaps the only agenda Islamists share with the common masses in a region where many Islamist movements are disliked by the ordinary man and have often been ruthlessly suppressed by governments. Anti-Americanism is perhaps the only thing that brings together Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas and ordinary citizens of differing political views.

As for the proposition that Arab anti-Americanism is a blind hatred for everything American, political scientist Marc Lynch has argued that it has not yet reached an absolute level of bias, since it is still responsive to new information and tends to fluctuate based on perceptions of the US, which in turn fluctuate with American policies. Another academic Chiozza backs this assertion by arguing that biased evaluations of the US are the exception rather than the norm. Focusing on France, scholar Meunier maintains that French anti-Americanism is still largely malleable in response to American policy; Lynch’s studies about the Arab strain also demonstrate the same.

Mohammad Khouri, an Egyptian scholar, argues that the rising anti-Americanism is driven almost exclusively by cumulative anger with the substance and style of American foreign policy in the area, and not by opposition to basic American values of freedom, democracy, equality and tolerance.

Samer Shehata from Harvard University postulates that anti-Americanism is not primarily about American culture or values
but the way the US conducts itself in the region and the world. He adds that Arab perceptions of America have become more negative as a result of the US war on Iraq, Washington’s almost total support for prime minister Ariel Sharon (in a vegetative state for several years now) and the enactment of new policies directed at Arab and Muslim immigrants and visitors to the US.

A number of old and new grievances have added up to a perceived image of the US as an implacable foe of Arab sovereignty and rights.

Thus, Arab hostility should be seen primarily in the context of specific US policies, not American culture, since the US is still a style icon for the Middle East. The US still attracts a large number of Arab immigrants and American culture still exerts its all-pervasive influence through Hollywood and the music industry. Cultural dissonance is not a major cause of the divide. It is based not on who Americans are perceived to be but on what they are perceived to do.

The writer is a security analyst.