From: Zeynep Tufekcioglu <zeynept-AT-turk.net>
Subject: Re-Suicide bombs & Middle Eastern mentality/realit
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 04:47:21 +0300


Michael Luftmensch asks:
>What's the connection between suicide bombers and
>middle eastern mentality/reality?
>
>Is there such a thing as a middle eastern mentality? 

The question sort of reminds me of the non-question "how do you know if
you're in love"? Well, you know when you are.

Yes, there is such a thing as Middle Eastern mentality. The region that
produced the three main monotheist religion, the region located on world's
greatest natural resources where children die for lack of 10cent
vaccinations, where the military/political presence of imperialism very
strong, to say the least, where the culture of mysticism blends into the
culture of opposition, and a region where the class structure is also very
modern (capitalist) in many ways.

I wish Lisa would comment. How can people override the self-preservation
instinct? Yes, Lemmings do it, but they do it by instict. People don't have
that instinct, their social being (which for humans is the natural being)
superdetermines their biological-natural being.

Here is another question related to revolutionary ideology / class
consciousness. Marxism defines classes by the unique position occupied in
the process of production. Not consumption levels. For example worker may
earn more than a small shopkeeper. But participation on the revolutionary
struggle is not determined solely by the class position in terms of
production. Deprivation / belonging to a persecuted minority / etc. have
very important, sometimes determining, input.

Anyway what's the relevance in this context? The working class in the
Western countries seems far from willing to put up the fight we see in
Turkey, in Palestine, in Peru, in Chiapas.. It is more developed in clearer
terms when it comes to class analysis. In places like this the picture is
muddled, and influences range over a wide spectrum.

I am a firm believer that the capitalists would never give up their power in
any manner connoting peace. Si vis pacem, para bellum- you wish for peace,
you prepare for war. So, age old dilemna - socialism in the West would be so
much easier, whereas here it would be deeply problematic, to understate.
But, it is places like this -and third-world pockets in the west I guess
like South-central Chicago- that insurrections/riots of importance occur.

So possibility and potential are divergent. 

Zeynep



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