Hate and prejudice can strange bedfellows make. As the world struggles on under the yoke of a globalisation process that continues unabated and unguided, the crippling effects of uneven development make themselves manifest all over. This has led to a counter-reaction from many parts of the world from groups that oppose the globalisation process and who have attempted an anti-systemic critique instead, though these anti-systemic movements are arrayed across a wide spectrum and also include, quite frankly, some creepy and loony ones.

In many parts of the developing South, the failure of the post colonial state has contributed to the rise of right-wings conservative groups and parties who base their narrow communitarian brand of politics on simplistic essentialist understandings of identity and the difference between 'Self' and 'Other'. For some of them, standing against globalisation has been equated as standing squarely against the West in toto.

Due to the fact that most of these groups are formed out of a communitarian mould, their politics tend to be shallow as it is short-sighted. The narrow ethnocentrism that underlies their political campaigns also explains why their critiques of globalisation have tended to be couched in essentialist terms that see the 'West' as static and simple, and their own identities as fixed by non-permeable frontiers.

This sort of simplistic politics was clearly evident last week when right-wing groups all over the South called for a 'ban' on celebrations of Valentine's day, which for them is yet another Western cultural import that underscores the cultural hegemony of the West over the rest. In many of these cases what emerged instead was a culturalist (as opposed to structuralist) critique of Valentine's day on the grounds that it was another case of the 'great evil Western empire' spreading its cultural tentacles worldwide.

It is ironic that in this simplistic blanket condemnation of all things Western that right-wing conservative groups in Asia were united by a common hatred of Western culture. While Islamist groups in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh threatened to go out into the streets and 'morally police' the behaviour of wayward youths on that day, extreme right-wing Hindu activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and RSS in India also took the law into their own hands and harassed young Indian kids who wanted to go out on dates.

Some simple truths

The leaders of the ABVP even argued that the 'sitting culture' in Indian restaurants should be curbed, in order to rid Indian society of social evils that emanate from the Saint who died hundreds of years ago! As ever, the tactics of these right-wing movements are predictably simple: Venting their spleen on the West and laying the blame for their own economic problems on the Other is a simple way of exteriorising what is really an internal structural crisis. It also allows them to extend their power and influence by adopting a paternalistic rhetoric of 'Care' for their constituencies, as well as their victims who more often than not happen to be young kids.

One can only lament the fate of poor old Saint Valentine, whose martyrdom at the hands of his murderers has now served to unite Islamic and Hindu fundamentalists in their unstated common struggle against the 'evil' West. What is more worrying and problematic, however, is the way in which the rise of such authoritarian groups in countries like India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia continues unabated before the seemingly blind eyes of a public that has grown accustomed to the hyperbolic rhetoric of the right.

Lest it be forgotten, some simple truths need to be stated once more: The celebration of Valentine's day these days may indeed be a crass and vulgar affair totally distorted by consumerism and commercialism, but it is certainly not the main problem of globalisation that the South faces.

If anything, the popularisation of the St Valentine cult is merely a symptom of the wider integration of the South into the global economic system, which has brought with it other popular cultural markers such as McDonalds, Nike, karaoke and other such nonsensical things. To suppose, as the right-wingers do, that the banning of Valentine's day or even McDonalds would somehow miraculously solve the problem of uneven development and globalisation is as nave and simplistic as their own overblown rhetoric.

Problems will remain

Nor does the celebration of Valentine's day represent a danger in any tangible, realistic sense. Compared to the carpet bombing of Iraq not too long ago, to be showered by cards bearing messages of love even if they are written by spotty teens is infinitely better, one should think.

The structural inequalities of the global economic system remains the primary reason why the countries of the developing South are vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the global economy as well as the bullying tactics and gunboat diplomacy of powerful developed nations. As long as these structural issues are not addressed in earnest, and with some intelligence, the problems will remain. (And blaming dead saints will not get us anywhere.)

On a final note: In anticipation of the nonsensical accusation that I am somehow defending the 'corrupting culture' of Western materialism by defending poor old (and dead) Saint Valentine, allow me to state clearly why I choose to take this stand. In an apparently loveless world beset by man-made calamities of an unprecedented scale, I feel that what the world needs now is Love. Putting aside the crass materialism and consumerism that accompanies the annual celebration of Valentine's day, the fact remains that its essential message is that of Love and companionship between human beings. It is that message of common humanity and solidarity that the anti-systemic and anti-globalisation movements of the South need to use and capitalise, in order to create instrumental coalitions that transcend boundaries of politics and culture.

So next year, instead of ranting and raving against all things Western, perhaps some of these anti-globalisation activists of the South might want to consider sending a Valentine's card to their counterparts in the anti-globalisation movement in the West. That, at least, would be a step in the right direction!

Dr FARISH A NOOR is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist. He is presently an academic researcher at the Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) in Berlin, and is the author of 'New Voices of Islam' (ISIM, 2002), 'The Other Malaysia' (Silverfish, 2002) and 'Islam Embedded: The Historical Development of PAS 1951-2003' (MSRI, 2004). He is also a radio essayist for the BBC World Service. His column 'The Other Malaysia' is an attempt to write a deconstructive account of Malaysian history, seen from the point of view of the Other and the subaltern.