Joseph Nye, a Harvard University affiliate and American political scientist, coined the term soft power in the late 1980s. Soft power is an individual's or group's ability to obtain the outcomes one wants without direct or indirect coercion. Soft power is exercised in different areas and contexts. For example, a successful educator is keen to learn and practice soft skills in raising children, especially teenagers. On a larger scale, countries exercise political soft power while fully aware of its feasibility. Its importance can be described as a policy parallel to other policies in confronting enemies and neutralizing internal and external dangers.
Why culture and arts?
“Extremism is linked to thought and terrorism is linked to behavior and action, and no person can turn to terrorism without embracing extremist ideology. Thus, cultural and artistic confrontation is a prelude to fighting terrorism, because extremist ideology is the beginning of the formation of the terrorist. If we confront extremist ideas from the start, we can eliminate terrorism in its bud.”
Cultures and arts are soft forces that eradicate violence from humans and call for instilling tolerance, coexistence, and moderation in the soul. They also call for strengthening communication, cooperation, and human and civilizational rapprochement, which calls for more common factors between humans at the level of societies in one country and then at the level of countries and civilizations.
Extremist ideology calls for the opposite of the above. The existence of what invites life and raises its value is a danger that extremist thought cannot tolerate, as it has never and will never be satisfied with cultures and arts, but rather considers them as threatening dangers and works hard to antagonize, oppress, and neutralize them by various means in order to achieve its goals of alienation of reason, racism, the complete abolition of the other, the dissemination of hatred and hostility, etc.
Examples of arts fought by extremist ideology
Extremist Ideology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: In the past decades, religious extremism has fought most of the arts. For example, the art of painting, especially the drawing of animate beings from humans and animals, was fought. Music was also opposed, described in the worst ways, and attributed to misconceptions that the conscious mind cannot comprehend and accept.
Extremist Ideology in Iraq: ISIS destroyed a human heritage and destroyed historical artifacts in the museums of Mosul and others.
Extremist Ideology in Afghanistan: In Afghanistan, the Taliban is fighting and terrorizing art and its people. What is the impact of fighting cultures and arts?
The impact of combating extremism on culture and art is varied and numerous, both locally and globally, and I can only mention a few. In countries where culture and art have been fought as a result of extremism, we find a great deficiency in art education. For example, locally in Saudi Arabia, music education was delayed in schools and universities. Teaching music for the first time as a university major began at Taif University in 2019, and the Ministry of Education announced the activation of music curricula in schools in 2021.
A large number of families ban their children from listening to or learning and practicing music. If a child defies this ban, he is confronted with psychological or physical family violence; a factor in family disintegration. Archaeological sites where ancestors lived, such as Madain Saleh and Madyan, located in the northwest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have been warned against and described as places of tortured people, and their visitors have been described as sinners. This led to a delay in evaluating these archaeological sites and benefiting from them scientifically and economically.
In another part of the world, Afghanistan in particular, artists are in a state of great panic and anxiety as a result of the Taliban taking over, as their fate has become unknown. Many of them may resort to destroying the artworks they produced and abandoning their artistic talents, and some may emigrate and leave their homes to escape from the dangers that await them. At the end of September 2021, the Taliban affirmed that music is forbidden in Islam, closed music schools and institutes, and banned playing instruments. The initial tragic result was the murder of singer Fuad Andrabi in northern Kabul.
Saudi Arabia's Efforts to Combat Extremism
The strategic objectives of Etidal include:
Etidal has published several articles that confront extremist ideology, including:
“Extremists tend to present themselves as guardians of virtue and that they only care about the value of goodness. They use this delusion to convince the other that there is a conflict between good and beauty. If goodness is a guarantee of a life committed to morals and virtue, then beauty, according to them, is the window of temptation and seduction from which Satan spreads his delusions.
They are leading a campaign against the fine arts under the pretext of protecting morals and goodness, trying to distract people from everything that would develop their artistic taste and develop their aesthetic sense, forgetting that religious and spiritual beliefs are concerned with aesthetic dimensions. Every worship means in heavenly beliefs is supported by a form of beauty, whether in its expressive eloquence, its practices, or the place in which it is performed. Therefore, temples throughout human history have been the place where man seeks to express his belief through beauty, and master it in his embodiment to the point of comfort.”
What is the impact of fighting extremism on culture and arts locally?
The world saw a great example of combating extremist ideology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman affirmed that extremist ideas will be destroyed and that there is no more time to waste dealing with extremist ideas. Since then, great efforts have been made in appreciating local and international cultures and arts, and the quest is still ongoing. Everyone in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries, and even the world, is looking forward to a bright future in reviving, appreciating, and highlighting cultures and arts in the region. In 2018, the Ministry of Culture was established in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Prince Badr bin Farhan was appointed as Minister. In his speech, he stated, “Culture is an essential part of the ambitious national transformation overseen by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Vision 2030 states that culture is “indispensable to our quality of life” and notes that the Kingdom must increase both the quality and quantity of its cultural activity. The Ministry of Culture will deliver on both counts and contribute to achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.”
The Ministry has contributed to providing a special path for scholarships named cultural scholarships. His Highness Badr bin Farhan, Minister of Culture, stated on this occasion, “Humans are the essence of all development, and education is the foundation of our advancement. Saudi Vision 2030 has emphasized the importance of culture as an essential pillar to advance the 'Quality of Life' of all citizens, and this is why the Ministry of Culture has taken education as a catalyst for the advancement of culture in the Kingdom. The 'Cultural Scholarship' comes as part of a wider transformation program that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing, which is rooted in the three strategic pillars of Vision 2030: building a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation. It also stems from a pioneering educational project in line with the comprehensive development our country is witnessing in all sectors. The program will boost the cultural sectors and provide them with competencies and human capabilities armed with science, talent, creativity, and ambition, to contribute to our cultural journey towards a rich future in which all forms of culture and arts flourish and open to the world new and different outlets for creativity and cultural expression. This program is open to anyone who has an interest in pursuing study in the fields of Archeology, Design, Museums, Music, Theater, Filmmaking, Literature, Visual Arts, Culinary Arts, and other forms of cultural and artistic knowledge. Today we start a new chapter in our journey toward flourishing arts and culture. We will proceed with the determination of our wise leadership and the ambition of our country to achieve our goals.”
Conclusion
“Art may be an effective antidote to extremism, provided that it is protected from waves of shallowness that deprive it of its aesthetic value. When art becomes a cheap commodity, we cannot rely on it for immunity against extremism. Rather, this may lead to a fragile taste among the younger generations, making them easily influenced by the vulgar rhetoric of extremists as they display hate speeches in a disgusting theatrical clamor. Therefore, caring for culture and art is an interest in what will remain stuck in the memory of mankind about our civilizations and our progress.”
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