The Blogs: Civilization and Barbarism

In 1845, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento published Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, a seminal essay that dissected the dichotomy between “civilization,” represented by Enlightenment ideals, democratic North America, and European capitals epitomizing art and culture, and “barbarism,” associated with nascent Latin America, marginalized European nations like Spain, and regions in Asia and the Middle East. The controversy surrounding Facundo endures, as it invites dialogue on civilization versus barbarism as the central conflict in a culture searching for values.

Sarmiento belonged to a generation that believed unconditionally in progress as economic growth and modernization, with order as a prerequisite for development. Beyond timeless controversies of utopias of progress, Facundo also prompts analogies relevant to today.

Like individuals, societies experience phases of development, maturity, and decline. Civilizations are no exception. Christian civilization had its Vatican councils, gradually ceasing to endorse the institutionalized persecution of other faiths and, in a relatively recent historical period, abandoned internecine warfare. The Jewish people, by contrast, endured profound internal conflicts that culminated in irreparable divisions, ultimately leading to conquest, widespread devastation, and the substantial loss of both population and cultural heritage, some 2,700 years ago.

By this metric, Islamic civilization would be currently in its adolescence.

Islam’s emergence was not a gentle unfolding, but rather a cruel expansion, a maelstrom marked by rapid territorial conquests across vast swathes of the then-known world. This brutal and expeditious phase was a period of transformative violence that fundamentally reshaped the geopolitical and cultural landscape of the world. One of the most profound, yet often under-examined consequences of this expansion was the traumatic disappearance of Eastern Christianity. So brutal, expeditious, and ruthless, that to this day we cannot fathom the full scope of its consequences. So much so that we cannot even properly study it.

After its rapid expansion and consolidation, Islamic civilization entered a creative, innovative childhood, contributing significantly to the arts, sciences, and philosophy. Yet, it never produced foundational documents such as the Bill of Rights that established parliamentary monarchy in England, the Constitution that defined American democracy in 1776 (as the philosopher’s stone of what constitutes a modern democracy) or the Declaration of the Rights of Man that emerged from the French Revolution. In most of the Islamic world today, there remains no separation between religion and state.

The regression of jihadism is indisputable, transcending isolated incidents to manifest as an ideological crusade against Judeo-Christian civilization. It is a war waged by radical Salafism, fueled by Iranian weapons and intelligence and Qatari funding, using the Palestinian cause as a pretext while aiming to destroy Israel and, ultimately, European societies deemed apostate and morally corrupt.

Islamism pervades Western Europe, infiltrating public discourse and aligning with leftist movements, which paradoxically defend a totalitarian ideology that opposes democracy, human rights, gender equality, and secularism. The West faces an ideological crisis, with left progressivism unwittingly enabling a movement responsible for mass casualties from Madrid and Barcelona to Paris, London, Brussels and beyond. Interpol reports more than 100 jihadist attacks in Europe since 2010, underscoring the need to confront this existential threat head-on.

Islamic antisemitism is the most virulent form of this ideology. Unlike right- or left-wing antisemitism, it lacks a cohesive theoretical basis, instead amalgamating theological, racial, and conspiratorial narratives. It portrays Jews as targets of divine wrath, conspirators controlling global politics and finance, and perpetrators of genocide in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This unsophisticated yet potent form of antisemitism resonates globally, influencing both far-right and far-left ideologies, social movements, and mainstream media.

A recent AWRAD survey reveals Palestinian public opinion, shaped by decades of indoctrination, overwhelming support for terrorism (75%), rejection of coexistence with Israel (85.9%), and advocacy for a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea” (74.7%). Despite international aid, anti-Western sentiment remains pervasive, reflecting a paradigm of ungratefulness and denial of Israel’s right to exist.

For years now, our Gulf partners have tried to warn us about the nature of radical Islam. Eager to reform and modernize their societies, they have joined the Abraham Accords, undoubtedly one of the most significant diplomatic achievements of the decade. Yet, Western progressives often downplay or dismiss the accords, stemming from an aversion to figures like Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu, who brokered the agreements, rather than objectively evaluating their significance.

To address this crisis, the West must empower voices within the Islamic civilization that advocate for reform, maturity, and integration into the global community. This involves fostering inter-civilizational exchanges of ideas and knowledge, encouraging democratic governance, and championing the separation of religion and state.

The time has come to abandon the naïve and utopian appeasement policies that have emboldened jihadism and have contributed to the conceptual disintegration of the West. Western civilization must defend its foundational values of human rights, democracy and societal merit through competence and education, or face the existential threat posed by totalitarian ideologies that are uncompromisingly tyrannical and expansionist.

In the end, the West’s future hinges on its willingness to confront this ideological battle and to reaffirm the principles of civilization over the forces of barbarism.