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The Magnetic Pole Of Today's World Is The West

Amin Maalouf

Amin Maalouf Photo: Jerry Bauer

Born in The Lebanon in 1949, he has been living in France since 1976, where he works as a journalist and writer. He has travelled in over 60 countries and is recognised as a specialist on the Arab world and the relations between the West and the Middle East. His first work, The Crusades from the Arabs' Point of View, 1938, has become a standard work. He worked as a war correspondent during the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution. He was editor-in-chief of the weekly An Nahar International and the magazine Jeune Afrique.

Amin Maalouf is author of a number of historical novels: Leo Africanus, Samarkand, The Man from Mesopotamia, The Return of Skarabäus, Les jardins du lumière, Le premier siècle après Beatrice. His most recent novel, The Harbours of the Levant (Les Échelles du Levant), has been translated into twelve languages. In August 2000 the Salzburg Festival will premiere the first opera with a libretto by Maalouf: L'amour de loin by Kaija Saariaho. Prizes and awards: 1993 Prix Goncourt for the novel The Rocks of Tanios; 1999 Veillon Prize for the essay Les identités meurtrières.

Amin Maalouf´s work

The Magnetic Pole Of Today's World Is The West

ISABELLE WERENFELS: In your latest book you say that Khomeiny reminds you of Mao. Is that an attempt to throw a different light on Islamic movements?

AMIN MAALOUF: What I want to say is that Khomeiny was a Third World leader like many others. You won't find any figure in the history of Islam to whom you can compare him. What annoys me is that everything that happens in the Muslim world is seen as something particular to that part of the globe. The Muslims react to the ideas prevalent in today's world. In the past they took over nationalism from Europe because it was available on the market of ideas, and now they have returned to religion for want of other ideas.

ISABELLE WERENFELS: Islam for want of another utopia?

AMIN MAALOUF: If the West one day exports a different utopia that mobilises people, then we'll see that the Muslims and the rest of the third world will adopt it. You see, a man living in Poland today, where Catholicism has again taken the place of Communism, knows where his home is - in Europe. Soon there will be no distinction any longer between Warsaw, Madrid and Berlin. A man living in the Muslim world has no home to go to. The Communist utopia exists no more and Socialist third world nationalism has been taken over by corrupt and fascist regimes. What prospects have the people in the Muslim world today? The orientation of a man from Poland is perfectly clear; for a man from Algeria it is not.

Photo: Jean Baudrillard, from: Horizons of the object

ISABELLE WERENFELS: Orientation in which direction?

AMIN MAALOUF: Let's not be under any illusion: the magnetic pole of today's world is the West, and the West alone. Whoever accepts that knows where he's going. Whoever doesn't accept it is lost. Look at Turkey, for instance. They have had to ask themselves the question: Do we go into Europe or do the doors remain closed? Where else can we go? To the steppes of Asia, to get lost? There is only one real option.

ISABELLE WERENFELS: In your opinion, what chances has multi-ethnic Lebanon of succeeding?

AMIN MAALOUF: That depends very much on developments in the region. The south of Lebanon is still occupied by the Israelis. The country is not really independent at present. Peace is needed in the region. By peace I mean real development in the European sense, with a true desire to build up something in common, forgeting the conflicts of the past. Territorial arrangements and treaties are not enough. It is necessary to catch up on developments in the world and create modern, democratic societies instead of remaining bogged down in the morass of tribal squabbles. Though I am convinced that this can be achieved, I am equally convinced that this will not come about in the near future.

ISABELLE WERENFELS: Some Lebanese believe that multi-ethnic life in The Lebanon will only keep functioning as long as the Syrians keep the lid on the pot.

AMIN MAALOUF: You have describe the situation well. The lid really exists. It is both a problem and a solution, and one day it has to go. But neither the presence of the Syrians nor their withdrawal alone will solve the problem. The people have to develop a feeling that they all belong to something common. This general feeling does not exclude the continuance of the other, more specific feelings of belonging. What has to be modernised is the mentality. There was a time when The Lebanon played an avant-garde role in developments within the Arab world; today it just goes along with developments in other Arab countries. That is no way to solve problems.

ISABELLE WERENFELS: You are convinced that developments can be influenced ...

AMIN MAALOUF: I do not believe that things in the world just drift in a pre-determined direction. The future is what we make of it. There are too many things which we simply let happen but which deserve to be taken in hand with greater responsibility. In some countries conflicts are simply allowed to take their course and only when the outrage is too extreme are positive steps taken.

ISABELLE WERENFELS: Are you pleading for more international intervention?

AMIN MAALOUF: I hold for permanent observation by the international community of the relations between the various groups in a country. The sooner conflicts are tackled, the less necessary will military intervention be.

ISABELLE WERENFELS: Your whole argumentation reflects the tension between universal values, such as human rights, and cultural pluralism.

AMIN MAALOUF: The humanism on which we hope to build the world of tomorrow must be based on the universality of fundamental values and on the diversity of cultural expression. These two elements cannot be separated. If we neglect diversity we endanger universality because people who feel themselves excluded will reject universal values. If we promote only the cultural differences and set universality aside, then dissension, animosity and conflict will prevail - the kind of thing we see in so many countries today.