It is well accepted that Western culture is the target of a radical, Islamofascist society that seeks to dominate the people of the world and make them subjects to Islam and sharia law which has as its head the prophet Muhammad and their god, Alla. We in the west have always believed that it was the religion of Islam that was the reason for the animosity they felt for us. While that is a valid assesment, the reasoning most responsible for their violent nature and the zeal with which they wage jihad is the tribal society and culture that has been their way of life everyday for 3000 plus years. In all those centuries, very little has changed except the study of that culture by outside observers who, in the recent past, has effectively written them off as old news, finding newer, more lucritive studies to pursue.

The culture of the tribal sysytem was once well understood and revered at once as remarkable in its complexity of tradition and simplistic for lack of formal power structure. A society that has evolved in vast empty expanses over centuries, tribalism has elements of both democratic and socialist society. It has been this tribal society’s rituals of feuding, vigilanty justice, family dependencies, democratic problem solving, and rural existance that has molded the attitude of the tribal members. Islam would not be a factor for the first fifteen hundred years and is more likely to have been fashioned for these desert people by to comply with the standing culture than to be a major social change.

It was this prevailing tribal culture that Phillip Carl Saltzman rediscovered, studied, and understood that lead to his writing "Culture and Conflict in the Middle East" pub. Humanity Books. A summary of the message offered in the book can enlighten those who find themselves under attack by Islamic jihad in a way that can give them an understanding of the enemy that might be of use in their defense. It is worth the read if for no other reason.

Sparsity is the name of the game in the middle eastern deserts. Large cities are few and very far between and do not have the resources necessary to support large populations of citizens. Nomadic tribes have preferred the sands and the freedom from rulers the desert provides. The resulting seperation from the law and religious authorities has created a feuding, threatening, clan/tribal form of society where immediate and some extended family is the basis for a sort of democratic anarchist socialism.

Having no immediate authority to settle disputes and protect property and life, a system of constant tension caused by threat of violent feud as reprisal for misbehavior has served to provide a fairly close knit, well behaved form of self rule. Any decisions that affect the tribe, which is essentially familial in make up, are discussed and argued with every man having his rightful say on the matter. A course of action is agreed upon and becomes a law.

To insure the tribe obeys the members adapt an aggressive attitude toward their neighbor and other tribal members with feigned actions of threat and agression and it becomes common knowledge that he will fight anyone who violates his respect of and obediance to the law or custom. Therefore through threat and intimidation tension becomes the normal mode of life in within the tribe. Public acts of provocation and intimidation become a tradition of ceremony and is understood as a statement of attitude, but is not seen as a overt act requiring reprisal.

When compared to society which employs central authority such as police and courts, normally at ease without tension between neighbors, this tribal tension appears threatening and evokes a perceived need for defensive reaction. The lack of a return gesture of agression would be seen by the tribe as a sign of weakness in that they expect and receive such from fellow tribe members. That is the way they think. Intimidate, receive a mutual act of intimidation, both are honorable, life goes on.

An example of this would go like so…

Abjil has labored a week to find and harvest a good supply of palm trunks for making water containers and has stored them in public view in front of his dwelling for the sake of convenience. When he awakes one morning and they are gone he immediately goes to his brother, cousin, and son-in-law to enlist their support. The group, brandishing clubs and knives enters and searches the dwellings of other tribe families. The members allow this because, first, they do not usually have the force necessary to prevent them from doing so, and second, because it is understood that this happens for reasons deemed acceptible by the tribe in whole. All had agreed that such searches are necessary and that anyone objecting is suspected to be the guilty party.

The missing palm trunks are found in plain sight at Jalil’s dwelling and they are seized and Jalil dragged out into the public area and made to cower and explain the reason he had the palm trunks and they were not with their rightful owner. If Jalil’s explanation sounds sincere and is deemed reasonable and acceptable, he is allowed to return to his business without any apology or sign of thanks. That would be a sign of weakness on the part of Abjil. Jalil is allowed to keep both hands where they are. Abjil is seen as being a righteous man and is revered for his sense of justice. But, if Jalil hesitates as in trying to fabricate an excuse for theft, Abjil is fully justified in dealing out what reprimand he deems worthy, including execution or amputation of the offending limb.

Might is right and just as roosters strut and put on the act of domination in the barnyard, tribal members make much to do of their ability to raise support and actively pursue those who violate his integrity. As a sign of this display of readiness for action, while returning to his dwelling, Abjil again acts out the feigned violence on those who are present in the area as a show of his victory. Intimidation, gang action, and readiness to use force are the tribal form of crime deterence.

Addressing and mutually agreeing to individual rights to property, the pursuit of individual pleasures, and the right to have a voice in tribal matters, plus the use of socialist methods of producing and distributing wealth, plus vigilante tactics employed in maintaining peace and preventing crime, all act to form a primitive, unique, and sufficient form of organized anarchy.

This should give us outsiders an understanding, though not an approval, of all the threats, marches, and demostrations we all see and are intimidated by. That is their purpose. The problem they have with us is compounded with the fact that they do not see any reciprocal act to declare our honor, and that we consider the threatening acts as serious and deserving of a pre-emptory act of overwhelming power. This is not to say that they don’t mean us harm, as they most certainly intend to murder us all if we don’t convert to Islam. It is an explanation, though, that explains the constant rants we see and could serve as some small verification to us that they are just being what they have been for thousands of years. Nomadic, violent desert tribesmen who make a big show of everything.