East and West. Orientalism, war and the colonial present

Jackie Assayag*

For at least two hundred years, Western countries have exercized a “benevolent” violence through colonization. Advocated in the name of the “civilizing mission” of the West and inspired by eschatology, this calling held the promise of redemption, both for the colonizer and for the colonized. The “war declared on terrorism” after the massacre of 9/11 in New York, with the subsequent military operations in Afghanistan and in Iraq, revives this tradition of ameliorative interventionism by carrying on the old orientalist-related topoi. Far from effacing the Great Divide between the West and the Rest, the wars of a putatively new type reinforce and polarize the division between “civilized” and “barbaric” in the era of “globalization”. The unfolding ideology of the American, according to which there would no longer be “outside” or “inside”, because no country would now be exempt from terrorism, obscures at little cost, but not ineffectually, the “colonial present”. What now prevails is a sombre vision of globalization, that of a fight to the death between two worlds, extending over all continents, between the “Empire of the Good”, incarnated by America, and the “Empire of Evil”, incarnated by Islamic terrorism. But this novelty goes back to schemas that are as old as the United States itself, insofar as this self-proclaimed “exceptional”, “unilateral” and “providential” “imperial republic” has an idealistic or utopian component qualified as “indispensable”. Welcome the the “Wilsonism in boots”!

Keywords: empire, colonialism, war, orientalism, United States of America.

 

Este e Oeste. Orientalismo, guerra e a contemporaneidade colonial

Ao longo de pelo menos duzentos anos, os países ocidentais exercitaram uma violência “benevolente” através do colonialismo. Advogado, à época,  em nome de uma “missão civilizadora” do Ocidente e inspirado na escatologia, este chamamento invocava a promessa da redenção, tanto para o colonizador como para o colonizado. A declaração de “guerra ao terrorismo” depois do massacre de 11 de Setembro em Nova Iorque, e as subsequentes operações militares no Afeganistão e no Iraque, revive esta tradição de “intervencionismo melhorador” ao transportar os velhos topoi orientalistas. Longe de erradicar a Grande Divisão entre o West e o Rest, as novas guerras reforçam e polarizam a divisão entre “civilizados” e “bárbaros” numa era de “globalização”. A crescente ideo­logia dos norte-americanos, segundo a qual não haveria mais lugar para o “fora” e o “dentro” porque nenhum país está a salvo do terrorismo, ofusca superficialmente (mas também com eficácia) a “contemporaneidade colonial”. Prevalece hoje uma visão sombria da globalização, a visão de uma guerra mortífera entre dois mundos, estendendo-se por todos os continentes e encarnada pelos Estados Unidos da América e pelo “Império do Mal”, encarnado pelo terrorismo islâmico. No entanto, esta nova ordem não faz senão recuperar velhos esquemas, tão antigos como os próprios Estados Unidos da América, na medida em que esta autoproclamada “república imperial”, “providencial”, “excepcional” e “unilateral” incorpora uma componente idealística e utópica encarada como “indispensável”. Bem-vindos ao “wilsonismo com botas”!

Palavras-chave: império, colonialismo, guerra, orientalismo, Estados Unidos da América.

 

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*EHESS - École des Hautes études en Sciences

jackie.assayag@ehesse.fr