By Zerougui Abdelkader
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Terror and terrorism are the result of decades of repression at all levels in the Arab and Middle East region. Individuals suffer from what Sigmund Freud call "Neuroticism."
Individuals have to repress their sexual desires, their political aspirations and their views for fear of death and to protect their livelihood.
This state of oblivion is the result of state's continuous interference at the very personal level to incarcerate the most elementary forms of the "ego." Even escaping through arts is doomed as individuals are becoming inclined to seek survival at the expense of truth.
The general population in the Middle East no longer shares any aspirations because of its subjugation to dehumanization. Even tribal social cohesion is coming under strains as resources are dwindling, and no moral values exist to cement or create a positive vision for their people in the region.
Old animosities have surfaced between Sunnis and Shiites, between Kurds and Arabs, between the Levant and the Gulf region, between semi-tribal states and mini city-states. The reliance on hydrocarbons, and a docile workforce has so far prevented or postponed the inevitable collapse of the regional power alliances.
From Yemen to Syria to Iraq to Libya, people are taking guns instead of "branches of olive oil," and shooting at each other instead of talking. Iran and Turkey are emerging to reshape the new order, not only because of their civilizational heritage, but most importantly because of their long-term projects in securing a place in the modern world.
The Middle East today exists only in the imagination. States will disintegrate, and new ones will emerge, maps will be redrawn to accommodate other ethnic and religious groups that were excluded from citizenship.
Decades of constant hammering of the Middle East population to stay in line with the desires of the few have produced failed educational systems, a total absence of morality and a code of conduct, a state of clientelism and nepotism that forces individuals to nihilism and "mental illness."
Moreover, in the Middle East, the tendency of continuous redefinition of good and evil is politicized to the point where people no longer have a compass or a sense of direction. Yesterday's "freedom fighters" are now terrorists, and Salafists are now becoming a pariah and a danger to peace.
Change and evolution are certainly a fact of life. However, when the core of thoughts are continuously redefined because of an autocrat or a monarch, then individuals lose their essence of existence, and turn into self-destructive machines.
The question that scholars should ask is why there is continuous turmoil and destruction in the Middle East? Blaming the U.S. and other outside powers is a psychological disease called "projectionism."
It is a way of evading reality and thus continuing to live in a virtual cocoon. Facing reality might be a hard step to take, but it is the only way to reconnect to it. Middle Easterners should wake up from their "fantasies" and "dreams" and face the real cause of their miseries.
Western democracies are not the enemies as they are portrayed in the Middle East "psyche" ― the real evil is the one who is trying to project such fantasies.
Abdelkader Zerougui (zerouguiabdelkader@yahoo.com) is an adjunct professor at American University. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.
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