|
|
|
Jewish World Review May 29, 2008 / 24 Iyar 5768 Rediscovering the Will to Win By Jonathan Tobin
Sharansky reminds us democracies can't defend themselves without 'identity'
Sharansky earned an unexpected boost when the resident of 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. invited him and co-author Ron Dermer to the White
House and told the world that everyone should read their book, "The
Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny & Terror".
While this was not the equivalent of an invitation to Oprah Winfrey's
guest couch, Sharansky's tome did make it onto The New York Times
bestseller list. After the easy overthrow of Saddam Hussein by U.S.
troops a year earlier and the post-Sept. 11 spirit of rolling back the
tide of Islamist tyranny, optimism seemed on the upswing.
But that was a long time ago.
DISCREDITED CAUSE
The insurgency in Iraq, as well as the election victory of the
Palestinian terrorist Hamas movement in 2006 (despite Bush's praise,
Sharansky had criticized Bush's reliance on elections as an indicator
of democracy), has thoroughly discredited the notion that we could
spread democracy to the rest of the world in the minds of most
Americans.
Undaunted by the drastic shift in the public mood, Sharansky, who has
given up politics and now writes from a perch at the Shalem Center in
Jerusalem, is back with yet another book that aims to persuade the West
to keep fighting for its ideals.
Having seen the progress democracy's enemies have made, Sharansky
believes that one element has given strength to the Islamists, while at
the same time undermining the West's determination: identity.
At the same time as this rise of deadly Islamic extremism, Western
intellectuals have increasingly come to see religion and nationalism as
antithetical to freedom. The problem is that, if we make the mistake of
seeing them as being a primitive poison that is itself the cause of
violence, the West will be robbing itself of the tools with which we
can defend our values.
Identity can be, Sharansky argues, a "force for good," not merely an
ideology of evil. "Strong identities are as valuable to a
well-functioning society as they are to … well-functioning individuals."
More to the point, "without identity, a democracy becomes incapable of
defending the values it holds most dear."
The current situation in Europe, where democracies seem at times to be
unwilling or unable to stand up against Islamist cultural and political
forces, illustrates this all too well.
The collapse of ideas like colonialism, that were once associated with
European empires, has allowed "post-identity" thinking to trash
national feelings, as well as faith. But rather than this rejection of
Europe's cultural norms helping its democratic culture to prosper, it
has rendered it defenseless in the face of aggressive and
self-confident Muslim immigrants.
This trend has led to a virtual collapse of the cause of human rights
around the world. Not only are many Western intellectuals and academics
now largely uninterested in bringing the benefits of liberty to places
where Islamo-fascists and local authoritarians rule, many have
actively allied themselves with the cause of those who want to destroy
existing democracies.
That is the only way to understand the willingness of so many in the
West to support Palestinians, whose worldview is the complete opposite
of what these liberal thinkers themselves supposedly espouse.
It is, after all, the State of Israel, where the right of Jews to their
own "identity" is under siege both from those who oppose any non-Muslim
sovereignty in the region and Western critics, including a growing
cadre of leftist Jews, who see Zionism as regressive nationalism.
This is a body of thought that has gained ground in war-weary Israel,
as the so-called "post-Zionists" have sought to wean the country away
from its roots. Rather than seeing it as the place where one small
group has found the freedom to let their ancient civilization blossom
anew on their historic homeland, the post-Zionists urge Israelis to
eschew such parochialism.
But it is here that Sharansky, an immigrant whose background made the
idea of him ever becoming prime minister an impossibility, understands
the threat better than any sabra.
As a dissident in the former Soviet Union, Sharansky himself bridged
the gap between the movements to promote human rights for all Russians
and the push for the right of Jews to emigrate. But his goals of
promoting freedom for all Soviet citizens and the particular rights of
Jews were not contradictory. To the Communists, the bid to extinguish
individual freedom was indistinguishable from their attempt to
eradicate Jewish identity. Sharansky's two causes complimented each
other as the eventual victory of both proved.
Similarly, today Sharansky is derided by activists in groups like
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch because while still
backing human rights causes elsewhere, he actively supports Israel's
right to defend itself against terrorists, whose goal is to deny Jews
freedom.
Just as the West can't defend itself against Islamism by giving up a
belief in the superiority of their own ideals of democracy, Israel
won't survive by "giving up on Jewish identity."
"There is another way," argues Sharansky. "The path to peace lies in
strengthening Israel's Jewish identity, maintaining a robust Israeli
democracy and encouraging our non-democratic neighbors to build free
societies."
THE BEST DEFENSE
"A world without differences is a world that denies people their
deepest attachments to history and to the future, to memory and to
inheritance," writes Sharansky.
Islamists claim they will win because Westerners and Jews "love life,"
while they "love death" because their belief in their cause is so
great. The author's answer is to to assert that "the free world's
shield against its enemies is its own identity, vigorously asserted …
Not all cultures are the same. Not all values are equivalent. The right
to live a unique way of life is a right worth fighting for and if
necessary worth dying for."
The altered political climate may mean that another trip to the
bestseller list for Sharansky is highly unlikely. But this is a message
that all those who espouse the values of the democratic West need to
take to heart.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
Let him know what you think by clicking here.
© 2007, Jonathan Tobin
| ||||||||||||||||
clicking