Why they don't hate us Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil

This book offers a groundbreaking exploration of the roots of the current conflict between the United States and the Muslim world. LeVine argues that the idea that most Muslims hate the United States or the West is a useful fabrication that helps fundamentalists on both sides to maintain political, economic or cultural power in their societies through the spread of what LeVine calls an Axis of Arrogance and Ignorance. He also offers a critique of the works of writers and others who have been crucial in the "branding of Islam" as a source of violence and backwardness in today?s world. Against such views, he advocates an Axis of Empathy as the only strategy that can bring about a long-term solution to the current situation.

Mark LeVine is a scholar, musician and activist with well over a decade of experience living and working in the Middle East, from Morocco to Iraq. As an guitarist and 'oudist he has worked with Mick Jagger, Ozomatli, world music artist Hassan Hakmoun and blues and jazz greats Dr. John and Johnny Copeland. As an activist he has worked with various groups within the global peace and justice movement and spoken at some of its seminal gatherings, such as the Prague S26 Countersummit against the IMF in 2000. As a journalist he has written widely in the US and European press, including Le Monde, the Christian Science Monitor, Middle East Report, and Asia Times. As a scholar he has held positions at the International Center for Advanced Studies at New York University, the Society for Humanities at Cornell University, and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. LeVine is presently Associate Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, Culture and Islamic Studies at the University of California, Irvine. His other books include Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation (co-editor, Perceval Press, 2003), Overthrowing Geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv and the Struggle for Palestine (University of California Press, 2004) and Religion, Social Practice, and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing Muslim Public Spheres, (co-editor, Palgrave Press, 2005).

?Everybody talks about ?globalization? and ?terrorism? but few do it with such analytical clarity and moral outrage.? Rodolfo D. Torres, author of Savage State: Welfare Capitalism & Inequality

"Mark LeVine's ambitious book combines an extremely useful historical primer with thought-provoking arguments about the here and now. A clarion call for building genuinely alternative cross-cultural bridges in the age of the ?war on terror." Chris Toensing, Editor, Middle East Report

"Juxtaposing history, economics and popular culture in often startling jump cuts, LeVine shows us a Middle East full of possibilities far more varied, and hopeful, than one would ever suspect existed from mainstream analysts, with their grim alternatives of jihad and McWorld. He also reminds us that some kinds of globalization -- denser webs of cultural, political and yes, economic interaction -- can be detached from neo-liberal assaults on basic social services, subsistence guarantees, and rights for the world's poor. Finally, he reminds us that culture and economics cannot be separated, either in Cairo or in Kansas, if we want to prevent the "us" vs. "them" vision proferred by so many of our pundits and politicians from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Finding alternatives starts with dialogue, and for those of us whose personal conversation partners don't usually include Shi'ite parliamentarians, Berber DJs, or even Jerusalem cafe-goers, eavesdropping on LeVine's conversations with these folks and many others is a great place to start. And for those seeking sharp critiques of the potted history and economics coming from Washington think tanks -- critiques based on broad and deep scholarship -- guess what? You've come to tthe right place, too." Ken Pomeranz, author of the award winning The Great Divergence

"Mark Levine is a wandering ministral who also happens to be a brilliant Middle Eastern scholar and veteran anti-globalization activist. He hangs out with all the wrong people and brings back profound insights that challenge the idiot stereotypes and ethnic calumnies that pass for American foreign policy. This brave and deeply stirring book simply blows 'the war of civilizations' concept out of the water." Mike Davis, Author of Dead Cities


?Why They Don?t Hate Us is a bold and iconoclastic work based on extensive personal experience, research, and cultural practice. Its powerful fusion of historical and political economy analysis and familiarity with a wide range of contemporary Middle Eastern culture is as rare as it is essential to understanding what is happening in the Middle East today and the nature of the relationship between the Middle East and the West.? Joel Beinin, Professor of Middle East History, Stanford University.

?Why They Don't Hate Us is an engaging and provocative response to a question that continues to be raised post 9/11. Combining personal experience with a presentation and analysis of history, politics, and culture, Mark Levine provides insight into the origins and causes (from globalization and economics to neo-conservative ideologues, journalists and political commentators) of conflict between the West and the Muslim world.? John Esposito, University Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University and author of Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam.

?This is an important, provocative and original work that should be read by
every citizen wondering why the Middle East has suddenly become a center
of violence and hatred of America. Mark Levine is a serious scholar whose
iconoclastic views will make him an important voice both in academia and
in American policy circles.? Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor of TIKKUN Magazine and author of Healing Israel/Palestine: A Path to Reconciliation.

?Mark LeVine proposes a different way of thinking about "us" and "them" in the Middle East: instead of seeing a "clash of civilizations," he calls for historical understanding and the creation of an "axis of empathy." This is a necessary and illuminating work.? John Wiener, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine.


CONTENTS
PART I: Who are They, Where?d They Come From, and Why Do(n?t) They Hate Us--Yet?
Chapter One: From Evil to Empathy: The Orient Beats Back the Axis of Arrogance
Chapter Two: Overcoming the Matrix, Re-Imagining Middle Eastern History

PART TWO: Branding Islam in the Global Era
Chapter Three: Grounding the Globalization Concorde
Chapter Four: New Logo: Rebranding the Middle East in the Global Era
Chapter Five: Beyond bin Laden: Human Nationalisms versus Inhuman Globalization
Chapter Six: Facing the Music: Rock and Resistance in the Middle East and North Africa
PART THREE: We?re Jammin?: Global Solidarity in the Post-9/11 World
Chapter Seven: Paris ?68 ? Baghdad ?04: The Evolution of a Movement of Movements
Chapter Eight: Inspiring the Impossible: The Global Peace and Justice Movement Between Old Problems and New Horizons
Conclusion: Chaos and Culture Jamming in Iraq and the World

Notes
Bibliography