Who are we ? - Samuel Huntington

Since the 'Clash of Civilizations', Samuel Huntington has become a must read for anyone concerned with the new international order. This is not just because Huntington is close to the American establishment, but also because the events all over the world- from Bali to Beslan-seem to follow the Huntington script. Now Samuel Huntington has come up with a new book enigmatically named, 'Who are We?' ('We' being the Americans). The principal theme of this book is the centrality of the Anglo-Protestant culture to American national identity. Huntington admits that it was the flag waving patriotism of his countrymen after 9/11 and their reiteration of their American identity which prompted him to focus on this profound issue.Yet, the much hyped 'American creed of individualism and equality' which Americans flaunt as the touchstone of Americanism, is, according to Huntington, just a 'partial identity' which 'does not tell you anything about the society that attracted the immigrants or the culture that produced the creed'. Huntington emphasizes that the culture that forms the foundation of the American nation is the Anglo Protestant culture which the first British settlers brought with them. He asks rhetorically, 'Would America be the America of today if it had been settled not by British Protestants but by French, Spanish or Portuguese colonialists?' Huntington uses the word 'Settlers' (not immigrants) to describe the early English pioneers. America began as a society of settlers. Unlike immigrants, settlers moved into the new territory to create a new society and culture based on their earlier one. Immigrants, like those Mexicans who later moved into America in droves, as per Huntington, require to internalize this Protestant culture and language for America to retain its 'creed'. In other words, it is back to the 'melting pot' concept. The idea of 'American Mosaic' be dammed!

It is quite evident where Huntington?s political sympathies lie. Liberal elites, according to him, are 'Deconstructionists' who promote a multiculturalism ( a theory that America is a collection of cultures rather a single one) and thereby, like the colonialists aim to 'divide and rule' the country. There is a striking resemblance to the situation in India when he alleges that the media and academic elites of the US have been de-nationalized while the common people remain nationalistic. As Huntington puts it, 'Elites are cosmopolitan, people are local'.

And to those who swear by secularism while pointing to the US, Huntington says, 'America is a nation with the soul of a church' and 'American creed' is 'Protestantism without God'. Interestingly, he quotes President Bush saying that Jesus Christ is his favorite philosopher. Anyway, the reference to the influence of religion on American people must not have come as a surprise to anyone who has analyzed the Republican victory in the recent US elections.

And what about the universal concepts of Democracy,Human rights, Equality etc. etc., those hallowed terms which we love to use in the same breath with the word ?secularism?? According to Huntington, 'The principles of the American creed- liberty, equality, democracy 'are markers of how to organize the society. They do not define the extent, boundaries or composition of that society.' Democracy exists in other societies also. So what is special about the American Identity? Huntington reaffirms that it is the 'dissenting' Anglo Protestant culture which makes America what it is ! Can a nation be defined by a political ideology? Huntington answers his own question by pointing out that wherever ideology was used, either to unite people of different cultures or nationalities as with the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, or divide others as with Germany, as soon as the coercion weakened, the artificial entities disappeared and were replaced by countries defined by nationality, culture, and ethnicity. Lesson ? 'A nation defined by political ideologies is a fragile nation.'

'Fragile' is a relative term. In the end, all things good or bad come to an end. So also will America , the author admits ,citing the example of Sparta and Rome. The question is whether America will be able to postpone its demise by renewing its sense of national identity and cultural values. This, he hints, is the objective of this book.

Is this book a 'post- traumatic stress' reaction to the events of 9/11? Is it a WASP backlash to the increasing marginalization of the white male in continental America as portrayed in the movie 'Falling Down?' Or is it a genuine attempt at devising a worldview for postponing the inevitable demise of the American empire? The truth must lie somewhere in between.