21 Ogos 2007

Caliphate Anyone?

Oleh Farish A. Noor

In the Indian subcontinent the reaction of the Hindu right was to show two fingers to globalisation via recourse to a politics of nostalgia couched in terms of a politicised myth of Indian greatness and uniqueness. In the
Far East the discourse of ‘Asian values’ was the foil used to fend off calls for democratisation, transparency and reform. Why, even in the West the fall-back position of claiming a singularly unique Western civilisational origin seemed the immediate refuge for those who could not cope with the provincialisation of Europe in an increasingly plural and cosmopolitan world where movement of capital and ideas was becoming commonplace. [lagi]