On Intellectuals and Transformations to Hegemony

Abstract

Words like underdevelopment, ineffectiveness, and deprivation continue to permeate the vocabulary of intellectuals and media figures worldwide – labels that are then turned from passing descriptions to defining ones. Such euphemisms or wordplays, generally used to describe developing or emerging countries, fail to disguise the widespread conflation among Western public opinion between structural underdevelopment and intellectual backwardness. Among the key roles for Arab intellectuals is to spread awareness on the fact that the subordination some believe has disappeared under globalization, or an old story no longer relevant, is, on the contrary ongoing and evolving, even if covertly. What is more, it is a powerful mechanism for repression, prohibition, and marginalization. Intellectuals with good intentions, as critics of the world and builders of an open and effective modernism, must take on these observations and oppose such damaging practices. This will gradually help achieve a culture of true peace, on whose basis international relations should be established; a culture that is not based on the balance of fear – as was the case during the Cold War – but on that of equality, parity, and the fulfilment of peoples' rights to freedom and sovereignty, constructive participation, and liberated identities creating positive values.