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International Conference on Power and Governmentality
Rethinking culture, resistance, and the relation between the state and
Islam dominated discussions in the two-day international conference "Power,
Governmentality, Resistance and State of Exception in the Arab World,"
which was held at AUB August 29-30.
Organized by the Association of Arab Sociology Center for Arab Unity Studies
and the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at AUB in cooperation
with the Heinrich Boll Foundation, the conference aimed at analyzing the
different modes of governance in the Arab world.
In describing the conference AUB's newly-appointed president Peter Dorman
said the conference represented a model of the benefits of an open society
that creates opportunities for liberal debate. Heiko Wimmen of the Heinrich
Boll Foundation said that although there are many studies on governance
and power in the Arab world, they still have not managed to achieve the
intended results of encouraging Arab regimes to open up politically and
economically. "In fact, many of these regimes have become even more
anchored after being reinvigorated and reinstalled…."What is
required are serious studies and research in order to reformulate Arab
regimes."
Khaldoun al-Naqib, the vice-president of the Arab Sociology Association,
and Fahmiyya Sharafeddine, the association's general secretary, welcomed
participants and wished them success in the conference. "Discussions
of governing by exception are still in their infancy," said Sharafeddine.
"We rely on you to shed light on them."
"The workshop draws on the observation that, since their independence,
Arab States have been governed by states of emergency, exception, and
occupation," said AUB Professor Sari Hanafi, a member of the conference's
organization committee. "The state formation in this region has witnessed
a production of different forms of citizenship, refugee-ness, and statelessness."
Hanafi pointed out that the question is not to describe authoritarianism
in the Arab world but to go beyond the dichotomy of authoritarian regimes
versus democratic regimes and to analyze the art of governance used in
the region. He spoke of the cases of severe poverty in the region, as
well as the recurring outbursts of state repression, conflict, and displacement.
Over two days, the international workshop covered many forms of governance,
which included an intervention by Nada Ghandour-Demiri of the University
of Bristol, who argued that while non-violent resistance has often been
considered a philosophy and an ideology, it has also proved to be a successful
political strategy for change. She referred to several examples from Arab
history, including the Egyptian mass movement of 1919-1922 against the
British occupation. Protests by people have proven to be effective in
several ways, said Ghandour-Demiri. They have attracted international
attention and embarrassed Israel by making it more difficult to "de-legitimize
such actions and individuals."
Wrapping up the conference, Syrian-born poet Adonis offered a thought-provoking
treatise on the relationship between Islam and governments, accusing successive
Arab regimes of using Islam to subjugate their citizens. He argued that
groups in countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Libya took power under
the pretext of setting up a defense against oppression, only to end up
practicing
Quoting Muslim philosopher Al-Farabi, Adonis said that whoever is true to himself possesses his soul, and whoever follows someone else's ideas, relinquishes his soul to that person. He argued that Arab and Muslim thinkers have been living in a culture that turns every individual into a follower, thus relinquishing their souls to someone else. "More often than not, they relinquish themselves to religion or an ideology," he said.
Adonis added that Arab rulers have used Islam in such a way as to contradict the spirit of Islam, which had rejected tribalism and upheld equality and fraternity among Muslims. In practice, Islam became a political regime and not a spiritual religion. Adonis concluded that the only solution to this unhealthy relationship between the Muslim citizen and the state is to separate religion from politics.
Ruba Saaleh from Exeter University noted that Europe is now moving towards the trend of redefining citizenship to include allegiance and assimilation to the national culture and even banning dual citizenships. Multiculturalism is undergoing a deep crisis of legitimacy, with assimilation increasingly replacing the politics of difference, Saaleh said.
Meanwhile, AUB Professor Ahmed Mousalli addressed the topic of globalization and radical Islam, arguing that the rise of Islamism in the 1970s was part of the war against communism by capitalism. "It was believed then that religious thought, especially Islamic thought, could constitute a watershed against the expansion of communism and socialism and a protection of capitalism and Western powers," he said. "Once communism was weakened, Islamism became the new enemy."
In parallel, increased globalization has been causing most countries in the region to feel that their political, cultural, and economic independence is under threat. As a result, Islamism is being used as a bulwark against that threat. However, there are some countries that are embracing globalization and liberalization, such as the United Arab Emirates.
Mousalli added that while most Western scholars and journalists try to paint Islam as rejectionist and anti-democracy, most popular and influential Islamic political groups actually believe in pluralism and democracy. He criticized Western powers for only condemning Muslim regimes that oppose them politically, while turning a blind eye to others that violate democratic principles if they have shared economic and political interests with them, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
May Jayyusi, the executive director of Muwatin, the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy, spoke about suicide bombers as a physical manifestation of a state of exception, where people do not feel that they have a normal life. As an example, she shared with the audience an interview with a suicide bomber, who said: "I looked out of my window and saw a dog crossing the street. No one shot at it or tried to kill it. And I thought to myself that we either have to live a life that is lesser than a dog or one of martyrdom."