Synopsis
提要
This presentation sets out to examine the `Clash of Civilisations’
thesis first presented in the journal, Foreign Affairs,
by the US political scientist, Samuel
Huntington, Harvard Professor and former Director Security Planning
for the National Security Council of the USA. The thesis was that in a post-Cold
War world, world politics was being reconfigured along cultural
lines and that the key confrontation lay between Islam and the
West. The argument has been subjected
to considerable criticism by scholars of Islam, but in the light
of the events of 11 September 2001, and subsequent developments,
it is worth reviewing.
本演說檢討刊登於美國《外交季刊》的一篇論文「文明的衝突」的論點。作者薩繆爾亨廷頓是前美國國家安全委員會安全規劃部長，也是現任哈佛大學教授和政治科學家。這篇論文指出，在後冷戰世界中，世界政治局面是按文化而重構，而主要對壘出現於伊斯蘭文明與西方文明。不少伊斯蘭教的學者對文中的論點作出莫大的批評，然而，911事件和隨後事態的發展，顯示這論點仍值得我們研究。
The presentation sets out the historical relationship between
Islam and the West, noting that for 1,000 years the Islamic world
had been the dominant world system, which was only overtaken by
the Western world system in c. 1800. Moreover, it also notes that the
withdrawal of Western power from Muslim lands from the mid-C20
was not accompanied by the withdrawal of Western influence. The presentation moves on to note
three developments in the Muslim world which accompanied the loss
of power from 1800:
本演說談及伊斯蘭國家與西方國家之歷史關係。曾經有1千年之久，伊斯蘭教是世界的主導系統；直至1800年，才由西方系統所取代。20世紀中期，西方政治勢力撤離穆斯林世界，但卻沒有將其影響力一併帶走。究竟自1800年起，穆斯林世界在失去勢力後，其發展如何？本演說歸納了三個進程：
1. A deep bitterness, indeed rage,
at Muslim powerlessness in the face of the West, a theme running
through literature;
1. 穆斯林世界面對西方國家時的無能，使人既悲傷，又憤怒，這些情緒往往在文學中流露出來。
2. An increasingly active pan-Islamic
consciousness, a widely felt sense of the embattled brotherhood
of Islam;
2. 活躍的泛伊斯蘭意識昌昇，為伊斯蘭信徒作好戰鬥準備的知覺廣泛接受。
3. A worldwide movement of Muslim revival,
the sources of which preceded the Western presence but the manifestations
of which have come to interact in innumerable ways with the Western
presence in and influence over the Muslim world.
3. 在西方勢力入侵之前，穆斯林全球性的復興活動已開始，然而，復興活動的成果卻流於穆斯林世界對西方的各種回應，包括對西方進駐影響穆斯林世界的回應。
But does this amount to a clash of civilisations?
The presentation will argue in the negative:
可是，這些進程是否構成文明的衝突？本演說予以否定，並評述如下：
1. Because throughout History both
the Muslim and the Christian worlds have shared and exchanged
considerable civilisational resources;
1. 自有歷史以來，穆斯林和基督教世界便互相分享和交換很多的文明資源。
2. Because for every Muslim who has
raged against the dominance of the West there has been another
who has engaged constructively with it;
2. 當有一個穆斯林信徒對西方霸權感到憤怒，也有另一個穆斯林信徒與西方文明作建設性的對談。
3. Because, although much can be made
of Pan-Islam and the brotherhood of Islam, the Muslim world is
also much divided by local affinities, local antagonisms, state
interests etc...
3. 儘管有些人隆重其事地去看待泛伊斯蘭教和伊斯蘭兄弟會，但穆斯林世界亦被當地派系、本土對立和國家利益等分割。
4. Because the Islamists, as we term
the so-called Muslim Fundamentalists, have been primarily concerned
to take over the structure of the modern state in their societies. Once they do so, as the recent history
of Iran has demonstrated, they become
captured by the constraints of political economy and geopolitics.
4. 一直以來，穆斯林主義者，又稱為穆斯林原教旨主義者，旨在控制其社會內的現代國家架構。一旦他們計劃成功，便會被政治經濟和地緣政治的限制所約束，如近代伊朗的歷史便是明證。
This said, Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qa’ida organisation
does represent an attempt to coordinate a global Muslim response
to Western hegemony. But
it is one which will only have a chance of success (1) if the
West demonises Muslims, and (2) fails to address the many issues
of injustice in the Muslim world which drive the sympathies of
many Muslims and the activities of young Muslims into the Bin
Laden camp.
話雖如此，奧馬爾拉登領導的阿爾蓋達組織的確有協調全球穆斯林信徒去對抗西方霸權的意圖。然而，這個運動若會有成功的機會，是因為以下兩個因素： (1) 西方國家妖魔化穆斯林信徒，和
(2) 西方國家未能處理穆斯林社會的不公平現象，使不少年輕穆斯林信徒對拉登陣營產生同情，並且加入。
