"Francis Fukuyama published a new essay in Newsweek to announce - again stupidly bragging - that history had ended. We made it to the end of a decade,
it is true. But what's scarier is that we'll end it exactly as we began: with
the certainty that Islamist terrorism doesn't agree with Mr. Fukuyama's thesis."
Was he wrong again? American political
economist and philosopher Francis Fukuyama: His theory of an 'End of History,'
which predicted the inevitible ascendancy of Western democracy, was
done serious damage by the Bush years, and by Christmas Day, 2009.
Everything
was going smoothly. The year ended, as did the decade.
That's a lie, of course: the
decade will only end in 2011. But I understand the rush to hurry
things up. The early 21st century will not be missed. Our era, for all intents and
purposes, began with September 11, 2001.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
At that moment everything began
going downhill. Terrorism in the four corners of the world. Afghanistan. Iraq.
And us, modern men, sighing for the last decade of the post-Berlin Wall 20th century.
That endless party in which history, as Fukuyama said, had finally come to an
end.
I repeat: everything was
going well. In the balance of news reports about 2009, which were prepared
weeks in advance, analysts breathed a sigh of relief. The economic depression
after the financial failure of 2008? It didn’t happen. States acted at just the
right time, avoiding an uncertain disaster. And the American economy was already
showing signs of heating up, making 2010 the year of resurrection.
Moreover, terrorism was a
distant memory. Apart from Afghanistan and Iraq (and Pakistan), the terrible years
of George W. Bush managed the miracle of normalcy on American soil. No attacks,
no bombs. It's no wonder that Francis Fukuyama published a new essay in the
recent Christmas issue of Newsweek to announce - again stupidly bragging
- that history had ended.
It took only a few days to realize
that history hadn't ended. On Christmas Day itself, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab
got on an airplane in The Netherlands. His destination: Detroit, the United
States. And in his underpants was a bomb to detonate during the flight.
The attempt was frustrated by
a combination of terrorist incompetence and a courageous crew. But the warning
was sent: the Americans ignored the pleas of Umar's own father, who had spoken to
U.S. Embassy authorities in Nigeria. His son was in bad company, said the
father; Umar had jihadist training in Yemen and was preparing himself for the
worst. But in the middle of the party, no one cared … so as not to disrupt the
party. End of case?
Far from it. In Denmark, unsettling
news: an intruder with connections to al-Qaeda entered the home of cartoonist
Kurt Westergaard, who in 2006 enraged the "Arab street" with his drawings
of Mohammad [the Prophet]. Kurt Westergaard escaped with his life; but the episode
is a good illustration that still hanging over freedom of expression, one of
the West's most precious triumphs, is the delightful "fatwa" of the
fanatics.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
We made it to the end of a
decade, it is true. But what's scarier is that we'll end it exactly as we
began: with the certainty that Islamist terrorism doesn't agree with Mr.
Fukuyama's thesis. History goes on.
João
Pereira Coutinho, 32, is a columnist at Folha. He has compiled his
articles about Brazil into the book Avenida Paulista (Ed. Quasi),
published in Portugal, where he lives. He writes every two weeks, on Mondays,
for Folha Online.
