Biography of Samuel Huntington
Born in 1927 in New York, Samuel Huntington was a brilliant student who studied at Yale University and graduated from it. He was to deliver plenty of lectures at Harvard University until his decease in 2008. Huntington was not only a theoretician, as he engaged in politics, being named a member of the American Security Council. Most of his theoretical framework may be said to be a critique of the French Fukuyama. There was not, almost any topic concerning the Western identity that Huntington did not tackle through his various oeuvres. Those were books like The Chock of Civilisations, the Soldier and the State, and Political Order.
On the criticism of clash of civilisations
Edited idem November 19, 2024
The clash of civilisations theory is a waxy mask put on other hidden clashes and interests within international relationships. When the Cold War ended, several writers and theorists started promoting a thesis whose substance is that conflicts between ideologies were over after the Cold War, and now it’s a new pattern of cultural conflicts (Huntington, 1993). Verily, Clash of Civilisations is a fictional thesis for various reasons.
The clash of civilisations myth is a tool to get and remain in power. Dictators and even democratically elected presidents are trying to make other people feel that there’s a clash and war between civilisations. Thus, the people feel that this leader is their saviour. They sense that their culture is going to be exterminated should they not choose that leader.
For instance, we can take a look at how folk in the 20th century allowed Hitler and Mussolini to lead them. Even nowadays, we see how conservatives are highly voted by people. Marie le Pin in France, Donald Trump in the USA, and Boris Johnson in the UK, etc.
Similarly, the last-mentioned thesis is used by capitalists to mislead folks and keep them away from understanding that there is no clash, but classes clash. Capitalists are brainwashing the working class to make them think that the origin of their misery is the other civilisations. They don’t realise that each civilisation, as long as it’s standing on capitalism, is using culture as a means to profit by attacking other civilisations. Western companies are not attacking countries mainly for the sake of their culture but rather for the sake of exploiting the colonised countries' natural resources, in other words, it’s purely an imperialistic action.
Finally, the delusion of a clash of civilisations fuels folks’ engagement in wars. People are not prepared to risk their lives in wars. They tend to have peace, so what makes them fight? The answer is the delusion in their minds about a clash of civilisations. They reckon that they’re protecting their culture by fighting with capitalists and imperialists in war. Yet, they’re merely fighting for the interests of capitalists, who will have a new market through their sacrifices.
Others might say that there is plenty of proof that the clash of civilisations is real. They claim that the West was spreading its own culture in the colonised countries, which alludes to the fact that colonisation was for the sake of culture. Some are going to say that whenever there’s a conflict between two cultures in weak countries, each powerful country seeks to support the kin culture.
That may seem reasonable, but that’s the cover. Behind the first cover, the companies in the West know that spreading culture will absolutely help maintain economic domination. Should you spread your culture, you will have a tool to make them buy what your culture produces. On the same surface, the second cover hides the fact that kin cultures help each other in order to maintain strong economic growth.
In a nutshell, the clash of civilisations is a huge delusion utilised to trick people for various purposes. Hence, they must be aware that there’s no war but class war. Every cultural conflict must be known by the public as a conflict of economic domination and as a cover for class war. People will not be free unless they cease thinking that the other civilisations are their enemies and rather realise that the capitalist minority is the actual one.