Transcript Crusades and Jihads - Online

Crusades and Jihads
A Clash of Civilizations or
Two World Views in Conflict?
Chain of Equivalences?
Al Qaeda = Taliban =
Islamism = Islam
Ultra-Conservative Point of View
Nuke Mecca
Occupy Middle East oil fields
Transform the Muslim world on the
pattern of post-1945 Germany and
Japan
Disaffected Islamic Point of View
War on Terror = War on Islam
Muslim resistance to repression seen
by Western world as terrorism
Repression that Muslims face is
ignored
Descriptive Terms
Authoritarian
Barbaric
Civilized
Democratic
Egalitarian
Genocidal
Modern
Progressive
Racist
Tolerant
Totalitarian
Traditional
Western Perspective
WEST
Modern
Democratic
Civilized
ISLAM
Authoritarian
Traditional
Barbaric
Islamic Point of View
WEST
Totalitarian
Genocidal
Racist
ISLAM
Tolerant
Progressive
Egalitarian
The Dilemma
To modernize the Muslim world must
accept the Western view of Islamic
civilization as authoritarian, traditional,
and barbaric and see Western
culture, as modern, democratic, and
civilized. That’s not going to happen.
The Solution
Allow the Muslim world to modernize
its institutions and enter the 21st
century on its own terms with its selfesteem intact.