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Goliath and David in Gaza: Indonesian myth-building and conflict as a cultural system

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Abstract

The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is a well established part of Indonesian religio-political discourse. Anti-Zionism if not outright anti-Semitism is foundational; Israel has few friends in Indonesia. Various media reactions to the 2008–2009 Gaza attacks are placed within wider ethnographic and linguistic contexts to explore how news is spun in a cultural system of conflict. In becoming part of a cultural system of conflict, discourses about Israel take on the properties of myth.

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Notes

  1. See Lukens-Bull (2000a and b, 2001a and b, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008) and Woodward (1989, 1988, 1996, 2006, 2008a and b, 2010)

  2. Rojo (1995). The similarities between the demonization of Saddam Hussein in the western press and the demonization of Zionism and Israel in the Muslim world indicate that this mode of symbolic discourse transcends cultural and religious differences. There are an untold number of pro-Israeli publications and web-sites produced by Christians and Jews that employ the same logic to demonize Muslims.

  3. Lukens-Bull and Fafard (2007). For another examination on how American Christians demonize Muslims, see (Cimino 2005).

  4. For a detailed account of the conflict see the report of the United Nations fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htm (last accessed on November 1, 2010) In the Israeli press this conflict was often referred to as “The War in the South.” In the Arab and other Muslim countries it was often called the “Gaza Massacre.”

  5. On the Indonesia governance during the New Order and the democratic transition of 1998 see: 2001D (Emmerson 1999; Heffner 2000; O’Rourke 2003; Schwarz 1999; Van Dijk 2000).

  6. Despite a well financed, high visibility, campaign the Islamist party PKS received only 8 per cent of the vote in the 2009 national election (Mujani and Liddle 2009).

  7. http://www.geschichteinchronologie.ch/as/indon/EncJud_juden-in-Indonesien-ENGL.html (last accessed on November 1, 2010)

  8. On Indonesia’s “religion policies” see: (Hidayah 2007).

  9. Perwitz (2007). Indonesian leaders have sometimes attempted to justify pro-Palestinian policies on the basis of commitment to anti-colonialism and the principle of self determination when addressing Western audiences.

  10. The feast of sacrifice or Id al-Adha is conducted in conjunction with the pilgrimage to Mecca. Unlike other components of the pilgrimage it can be conducted anywhere. Muslims sacrifice goats, sheep and cattle to commemorate the Quranic and Biblical story of Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son as a demonstration of his faith in God. Most of the meat is distributed to the poor and needy. It can be offered anywhere and need not involve the actual participation of those offering it. Today, it can be arranged by text messaging a local or trans-national agency.

  11. Al Jazeera.Net December 30, 2008, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/12/2008123031716382336.html. (last accessed on November 1, 2010)

  12. Hadler (2004). On the development of anti-Semitism in the Arab Muslim World, see Greenberg (2001). On Indonesian Anti-Semitism more generally, see van Bruinessen (1994); Siegel (2000).

  13. For an analysis of the role of anti-Semitism in contemporary Indonesian Islamist discourse, see Woodward (2010).

  14. Majalah Islam Sabili June 29th 2006, pp. 60–61.

  15. For a more general discussion of linguistic style and credibility in news reporting, see Fowler (1991).

  16. Interestingly the same song is used in a Humane Society commerical in the US with a montage of animal cruelty. It seems to have become emblematic of cruelty inflicted on the powerless.

  17. http://www.onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1507.shtml. (last accessed on November 1, 2010)

  18. World Health Organization Media Center, “Depleted Uranium,” http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/ (last accessed on November 1, 2010) WHO also conducted a survey of scientific literature on depleted uranium that is available on the Web at http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/env/du/en/index.html. (last accessed on November 1, 2010)

  19. See, for example, “DEPLETED URANIUM BURNING: AN E T E R N A L MEDICAL DISASTER. Issues on the Use and Effects of an ILLEGAL RADIATION Weapon,” http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/ud_main.html. (last accessed on November 1, 2010)

  20. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nuclear_israel_gaza. (last accessed August 17, 2010 but as of November 1, 2010 this is already defunct)

  21. http://article.feeds4all.nl/Media-Uses-Terrorism-Apologist-as/1718061285.aspx. (last accessed August 17, 2010 but as of November 1, 2010 this is already defunct)

  22. http://www.eajg.nl/index.asp?navitemid=12&type=3&item=808. (last accessed on November 1, 2010)

  23. Publicization of these groups and their activities is among the most effective modes of “counter-discourse” in an environment where Islamist appropriation of European anti-Semitic discourse is increasingly common.

  24. Woodward, op. cit, has argued that tropes of the Crusades and their purported links to Zionism are important elements of Indonesian Islamist discourse.

  25. Translation of the Indonesian text.

  26. The Web browsing on which this account is based was done in Indonesia with locally purchased equipment: a four year old laptop computer and a cell phone modem.

  27. Woodward, op. cit.

  28. Pesantren are, in most respects similar to Middle Eastern and South Asian madrahsa. The terms “pondok” and “pesantren” or a combination of them are used throughout Muslim Southeast Asia. On the pesantren tradition see (Djajadiningrat 1977; Dhofier 1999; Yunanato et al. 2005). On the modernization of the pesantren tradition see: (Lukens-Bull 2005, 2006).

  29. The tendency of the western press to depict pesantren as “terrorist training camps” employs symbolic operations similar to those used by the Sumatra Utara Pos in its account of “Israeli Nukes.” See (Woodward et al. 2010).

  30. On children’s conflict art see: (Geist and Carrol 2002).

  31. Lévi-Strauss (1966). “Shade tree mechanics” are a contemporary American example. Burmese mechanics, who seem to do everything with anything, including installing a 1970’s Toyota transmission in a 1951 English Ford are an even better example.

  32. On the globalization of local and national level conflict see (Woodward 2006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, USA

    Ronald A. Lukens-Bull

  2. School of Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4302, USA

    Mark R. Woodward

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  1. Ronald A. Lukens-Bull
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Correspondence to Ronald A. Lukens-Bull.

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Lukens-Bull, R.A., Woodward, M.R. Goliath and David in Gaza: Indonesian myth-building and conflict as a cultural system. Cont Islam 5, 1–17 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-010-0145-4

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