This is the text of the lecture given by Dr. Witold Repetowicz at the Haigazian University, Beirut, Lebanon on October, 16 during the conference “Information Space Security: Good governance and the citizenship state in Lebanon”. This paper focuses on selected narratives that target the image of the West in the Middle East, based on stereotypes and manipulations related to the very concept of the West, as well as the concepts of imperialism and colonialism. The author points out that the concept of the West is subject to narrative manipulation through the popularization of the Russian-created concept of the “collective West.” The author indicates that the conceptualization of this term is, in fact, disinformation. The application of this term to Poland serves as an example. Its goal is to attribute responsibility for colonialism to the “collective West,” as well as for Israel’s actions against Palestine or Lebanon, thereby assigning it to countries like Poland, whose historical experiences and current policies contradict such claims. The author further claims that Russia, although it portrays itself as an anti-imperial and anti-colonial force, has been for centuries an colonial empire and is currently waging a colonial war against Ukraine and seeks to realize its imperial plans. However, the author notes that East-West relations are also influenced by stereotypes present in the West. This concerns, in particular, the failure to consider the regional context in democratization plans, the expectation of quick results, and, in their absence, the belief that democracy is unique to the West and that Middle Eastern societies need authoritarian rule, as otherwise, jihadists come to power.
The concepts of imperialism and colonialism are instinctively associated with the West. This seems obvious, especially in countries in Western Europe, which, as former colonial powers, are now afflicted by their sense of guilt, and also in countries that were colonized and whose historical memory is subject to many manipulations that prevent them from moving forward. Of course, someone could accuse me of easily talking about overcoming the colonial past because I am from the West, and that this is an expression of a lack of empathy on my part. But I am from the part of the West that did not colonize anyone; on the contrary, Poland itself was colonized at one point of its history.
To understand this, I must begin with the definitions of imperialism and colonialism, and explain the concept of the so-called “collective West.” Imperialism is a policy of expansion at the expense of other states and nations, as well as subjugating them through military, political, or economic means. An empire always strives for further extension, which means it has no natural borders, and the policy of expansion, conquest, and subjugation is justified in various ways, often invoking specific ideologies. For example, Friedrich Ratzel, a leading representative of the German classical school of geopolitics, argued in the late 19th century that a state is like a human body and must absorb neighboring territories to develop, just as a child must eat to grow.
Imperialism is often accompanied by the imposition of the empire’s culture, language, and ultimately identity on conquered nations. Colonialism, on the other hand, is a policy of economic exploitation and settlement of lands belonging to conquered states or nations and it is often accompanied by discrimination against the local population.
As I have already said these 2 concepts are instinctively associated to the West, especially European policy in XIX and first half of XX century. Then, after decolonization, the postcolonial period was characterized by unequal relationships. On the other hand, imperialism, in many narratives is associated with USA. America, in particular, became the target of accusations of imperialism from left-wing movements during the Cold War, often sponsored by the Soviet Union. In the Middle East, such narratives were fueled by the US’s support for Israel. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US gained global hegemon status, reinforcing narratives that portrayed the US as an imperial power. In turn, in many narratives, Russia, like the Soviet Union earlier, acquired the image of an anti-imperial force. However, this is a huge lie. Russia differs from Western imperial and colonial powers in one fundamental way: unlike them, it never abandoned its imperial and colonial policies. And the same applies to China.
Before explaining this, I would first like to address the concept of „collective West”, which was invented by Russian propaganda and is disinformation in itself. This term was first used by Putin in April 2021 and quickly popularized by Russian propaganda. The concept is also used in the anti-Western propaganda of other entities sympathetic to Russia. Notable examples include professor of English literature Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian, born in the US and a graduate of the University of Birmingham. By the way, it is a very characteristic duality – to go for education not to allegedly anti-imperialistic Russia but to imperialistic West and then to praise Russia and spread anti-western narratives. Marandi in his social media, generally illegal in Iran, and also in Western media (I can’t imagine that Russian or Iranian media invite any critics of their policy), wages an intense campaign against the “collective West,” accusing it of responsibility for the “Gaza genocide.”
This concept of “collective West” is based on mutual defining of the individual elements and the whole and it was invented to discredit the entire democratic world by attributing collective responsibility to it for the actions of individual states (current and historical) that are negatively perceived by specific groups in the Middle East. This allows to attribute to the “collective West” colonialism, responsibility for Israel’s actions, destabilization of the Middle East region, racism, and so on. These are the key factors influencing emotional and information vulnerability in the Middle East, including Lebanon.
Russia’s goal is to fuel resentment towards the “collective West,” while at the same time presenting itself as an anti-colonial and anti-imperial force and the only reliable ally. But this is not only due to geopolitical rivalry. Above all, it is about the axiological clash between the camp of democracy and freedom and the autocratic camp, represented primarily by the two largest contemporary imperialist-colonial powers: Russia and China, but also by states such as Iran, North Korea, and, until recently, Assad’s Syria. So the real aim is to deter the Lebanese from democracy and “color revolutions.”, to convince them that “Western democracy” is a lie and merely a tool of Western colonialism and imperialism. Russia and other actors in the authoritarian world thereby wish to discredit the concept of the “Free World,” as well as actions supporting the development of democracy, civil society, and the rule of law.
In fact this is one of the manipulation tactics: reversal of the roles. Poland in this concept is part of this so called “collective West”. But we never had any colonies and we recognized Palestine as a state in 1988. You can hardly find any expression of support for Israel’s actions against Gaza or Lebanon in Polish information environment, quite to the contrary. And, unlike Russia, we don’t have oligarchs who have dual citizenship, Russian and Israeli, and who support Putin and his invasion on Ukraine. Suffering is suffering, and Ukrainians suffer now from Russian imperialism and colonialism.
I understand that different nations has different historical memories but compassion to the suffering of the others should characterize those who were victims of imperialism and colonialism. Especially that the so called anti-imperialistic narratives of Soviets, Russia and their allies, led rather to new suffering from autocratic regimes then to liberation. Look at Syria, look at Iran, look at North Korea.
Russia hates freedom and democracy and perceives it as a threat. This is one of the reasons it waged war against Ukraine. But the most important reason was that Russia doesn’t accept the world of sovereign and equal nations. Russia wants to divide the world into sphere’s of influence, the so called concert of powers, where there is no place neither for sovereign Lebanon nor for sovereign Poland. It is worth to stress in this context that the present world dynamics is not determined by merely rivalry for power as hardline political realists claim. It is not true that states are guided solely by interests and not by ideologies. In fact interests arise from values. The current international reality is defined not by a “war of all against all” for power, but by the clash between the camp of democratic values and the authoritarian block, which is characterized by actual colonialism and imperialism.
Narratives that appeal to political realism and question the global axiological clash between the camp of democracy and freedom and the block of autocracy serve to attempt to break up the former and to relativize democracy and freedom. The autocratic camp is aware that the desire for freedom is natural for people, regardless of their civilizational or cultural background. This is precisely why the West won the Cold War. The ideological struggle, therefore, currently plays a key role. In the Russian narratives, pro-democratic movements are an instrument of the West’s hybrid warfare, and this applies to both Central Europe and the Middle East.
In Russian and other authoritarian narratives, the democratization of Ukraine was deemed a hybrid attack on Russia, and in the Lebanese media space there appeared some reports suggesting that democratic movements in Central Europe, including Poland’s Solidarity, were an element of the imperial policy of the USA and the West, and that the countries where communism fell, like Poland, did not win their freedom but became victims of imperialism. Such report was for example published recently on al Mayadeen website and as a Pole I can assure you that this claim is ridiculous. In other reports, appearing also in the Lebanese information space, the thesis is promoted that countries like Poland are seeking to draw the West into a war with Russia and provoke a Third World War with detrimental effects to the rest of the world. These reports are intended not only to discredit Poland or the “collective West” but, as I said already before, primarily to deter the Lebanese from democracy and “color revolutions.”
Poland became victim of colonialism and imperialism in late XVIII century when it was partitioned between Germany, Austria and Russia. Putting Austria aside, all the characteristic elements of imperialism and colonialism applies to German and Russian actions towards Poland under their occupation: settlements, discrimination, exploitation and attempts to impose their identity by fighting our culture and language. And both countries adopted some specific ideology to justify their policy.
But there is a fundamental deference between present day Germany and Russia. Germany is democratic and rejected its imperialism. Exactly this is why we are now friends, we are together in EU and NATO. We didn’t forget the past but we overcame it to move forward. It became possible less then 50 years after Germany completely destroyed our capital and killed millions of Poles.
The same is not possible with Russia. After World War 2 Russia again subjugated Poland through military and political means. Russian soldiers stayed in Poland till 1993 against our will. And now Putin’s Russia is waging the war against Ukraine which aim is to restore Russian empire. Putin openly denies Ukraine’s right to exist and one of the most famous contemporary Russian political ideologist Aleksander Dugin follows the same principles of social darvinism as Ratzel 150 years ago. He claims that no state in Central Europe should be sovereign and liberal democracy is the greatest evil for him.
With all that said I must admit that East-West relations are also influenced by stereotypes present in the West. This concerns, in particular, the failure to consider the regional context in democratization plans, the expectation of quick results, and, in their absence, the belief that democracy is unique to the West and that Middle Eastern societies need authoritarian rule, as otherwise, jihadists come to power. I reject this perspective and I think that it is necessary to change it.
Cilician catholicos Aram I wrote in his book “Issues and perspectives” that there will be no peace and stability without freedom and justice and security emanates from justice and human rights and can’t be instituted by force. He also stated that “democracy that this region will eventually adopt must be responsive to local conditions, needs and expectations”. I agree with that.
It is also worth to stress that the picture of the Middle East as an arena of the clash of religions, which is very widespread in the West, is misleading. Moreover it is also exploited by pro-autocratic propaganda that depicted Russian support for Assad’s regime as defending Christians. In fact the problem is not clash of religions but weaponization of religions by political extremists. As Aram I writes “in the geopolitics of the Middle East religion has often been hijacked by political forces and, hence, its role has been often divisive, polarizing and destabilizing”. In this context it is also important to stress that propaganda thesis promoted by Israel that it is defending the Western civilization against Islamic threat has nothing to do with reality. In fact such narratives serve only autocratic block purposes as they help spreading propaganda attributing responsibility for Israel’s actions to the “collective West”.