The following is a summary of general findings from Gallup's
survey of 10,000 people in the predominantly Islamic countries of
Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi
Arabia and Turkey. The report is being released today at a
Tuesday Briefing summit event in Washington, DC. Watch this page
and other Tuesday Briefing topic pages in the coming weeks for more
detailed findings based on this groundbreaking study.
It is evident from the data reviewed in this project that the
people of Islamic countries around the world have significant
grievances with the West in general and with the United States in
particular.
The extent of these views has not been well documented before
this time. There has been an enormous amount of speculation about
the views of Muslims since Sept. 11, but little substantiation. The
data reviewed in this project underscore the reality of the major
perceptual gulf that exists between the West and the countries of
Islam.
The residents of many of the nine countries included in this
project -- Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan,
Iran, Morocco, and Indonesia -- have strongly unfavorable opinions
of the United States and U.S. President George W. Bush. At almost
every opportunity within the survey, respondents overwhelmingly
agree that the United States is aptly described by such negative
labels as ruthless, aggressive, conceited, arrogant, easily
provoked, biased. There is overwhelming disagreement with
statements that the West and the United States are trustworthy, are
friendly, care about poorer nations, or are willing to share
technology.
The people of Islamic nations also believe that Western nations
do not respect Arab or Islamic values, do not support Arab causes,
and do not exhibit fairness toward Arabs, Muslims, or in
particular, the situation in Palestine.
At the same time, the survey documents the degree to which the
images and perceptions of the people of the Islamic culture are by
no means monolithic. Their views of the West are more nuanced than
might have been imagined. The respondents claim to pay close
attention to current affairs and as an apparent result, they do not
respond with blanket condemnations of the West, but seem quite able
and willing to give the West its due in specific areas.
The respondents acknowledge in particular the technological
prowess and progress made by the United States and the West. They
recognize the West's economic prosperity and are quite aware of the
freedoms the people of the United States and other Western
countries enjoy.
But there appear to be two overwhelmingly negative perceptual
barriers between the people of Islamic countries and the West that
rise above all else.
Negative Perceptions of the West
First, it is evident that these respondents simply don't think
that the United States and the nations of the West have respect for
Arabs or for Islamic culture or religion. The people of these
Islamic cultures say that the West pays little attention to their
situation, does not attempt to help these countries, and makes few
attempts to communicate or to create cross-cultural bridges.
Second, these respondents have deep-seated disrespect for what
they see as the undisciplined and immoral lifestyles of people in
Western nations. These sharply disapproving perceptions are evident
at numerous points within the survey context. The disapproval
extends not just to the sexual and violent content in movies and
music, but respondents also hold the view that the West embodies
the concept of an inappropriately relaxed culture, and that the
West has lost respect for its own traditions and religion,
extending even to a lack of respect for its elders.
Again, it is not that the people interviewed in this project
don't have a keen awareness of what the West has that many Islamic
nations don't -- economic success, technological knowledge, and
even personal freedoms. But there is a strong feeling that the
United States and the West have little interest in helping spread
this success and know-how to other nations. There is also the
overwhelming view that the decadent and undisciplined and
irreligious lifestyle that they believe has accompanied the West's
success in many ways overwhelms the positives.
The negative view of the West's lifestyle has no doubt developed
to a significant degree on the basis of the deeply religious
commitment of these Islamic cultures -- documented at numerous
points in these data.
But in a number of these countries the desire for economic
success vies with religion and family in terms of its importance.
Additionally, in many ways the data document the depressed view
that these respondents have of their own current situations.
Thus, most likely as a result of the confluence of all of these
factors, the citizens of Islamic nations are -- at least outwardly
-- not as much envious or covetous of the success of the West as
they are resentful -- resentful that the powerful West does not
help, seemingly does not care, and that it flaunts its own
immorality and lack of religion.
The people of these countries do not long to visit or live in
the United States. Asked where they would send a son if he had a
full scholarship to attend a university anywhere in the world, the
United States scores no higher than European countries and well
below local countries. Many profess little interest in visiting the
United States.
Communication Gap
One of the ironies evident from the data collected in this study
is the apparent error in communication that exists between these
Western and Islamic cultures.
Respondents in Islamic nations perceive the United States as
immoral and irreligious, while in point of fact, every study we
have in the United States documents the degree to which average
Americans (not those portrayed on television and in the movies)
attend church regularly, profess deeply religious views, and are in
many ways conservative in their beliefs and lifestyles. Surveys in
the United States also document the degree to which Americans have
empathy for the people around the world and are willing to support
foreign policies designed to help them.
Still, all of these perceptions -- no doubt developed and
reinforced over a period of many years -- provided the foundation
on which the events of the last six months since Sept. 11 have been
played out.
The study provides support for the conclusion that the residents
of these Islamic countries do not condone the attacks of Sept. 11.
Vast majorities -- although not all -- say the events of that
tragic day are morally unjustifiable.
But this perception exists despite the fact that sizable
minorities doubt the "official" conclusion in the West that Arabs
were behind the attacks. In fact, many in the Islamic world have
concluded that the attacks were actually perpetuated by the United
States itself, or the Israelis, or at the least non-Muslim
terrorists.
Thus, it may not come as a surprise that these people have such
a strongly negative reaction toward the subsequent U.S. response
and military action in Afghanistan. In most of these countries,
significant majorities of the people say that the U.S. war in
Afghanistan cannot be justified at all. In many countries,
residents are more likely to consider the war waged in response to
Sept. 11 as morally unjustifiable than think so about the basic
attacks themselves.
There is some recognition on the part of sizable percentages of
the respondents that the United States is engaging in the actions
in Afghanistan in reaction to the attacks of Sept. 11, and in the
attempt to shut down al Qaeda. But numerous others in the Islamic
world offer different responses as the primary U.S. motive --
including power grabbing, a desire to take over and control
additional peoples or lands, and a desire to corner Afghan
resources, including uranium.
All of this type of reaction to the events of Sept. 11 and their
aftermath fits directly (and to a significant degree predictably)
into the apparent foundation of distrust that has built in the
minds of these respondents over the past years and decades.
Moving Forward
So what is to be done? There is a positive note when we look for
answers to this question in the results of this survey. The people
of Islamic nations are in many ways apparently concerned about the
need to find peace and rapprochement between the Arab/Islamic world
and the West. But they don't think that the West itself is
motivated to build these bridges, and there is fairly deep-seated
pessimism that such a time will ever come.
There are, however, strong suggestions from the Arab and Islamic
side of the equation about what to do. The one cry to the West that
seems to be most dominant: trust, respect, and understand us.
The people of the Islamic world say that the West should
moderate its attitudes and exhibit less prejudice toward Arabs and
Muslims, that the West should show more respect and should not
underestimate the people of the Islamic world. The people of the
Islamic world say that the West should increase its level of
economic concern and support around the world, should moderate its
stance on the Palestinian issue, should attempt more dialogue and
cultural interaction, and should make much stronger attempts to
understand what the Islamic religion is and what it stands for.
There is little sign that the people of Islamic nations perceive
that these things are happening now, but the responses in this
survey identify many of the issues that the Islamic people would
suggest be addressed in order to repair United States' and Western
relations with this part of the world.
