At the beginning of the book, the young man is humiliated and tortured by the Western appearing and speaking judicial committee. Then, further demonstrating the levels of control and command over their citizens, the committee attempt to impinge upon the ways that young man thinks. He is told that he must write about the 20th century's most important achievement and the greatest Arab figure, to demonstrate his loyalty to the state. Although one would think that there could be no correct answer to the open-ended questions posed by The Committee, clearly there is, in their eyes, as when he makes a choice that could damage their reputation, they track him down to 'correct' his selection.
The young man's choice, that of a doctor who is famous for his works of global outreach and philanthropy, shows that the apparently noxious ideology of globalization has already penetrated even his consciousness. The reason the doctor is seen as evil in the book is because he is an international figure, and globalization is deemed to be harmful. The committee is afraid that if the young man selects this doctor, the regime's true ideology will be revealed, and the Westernized control of the Middle East will make itself known to the general population. The ideology of the supposed diversification of interests of modern economic life masks the real, controlling presence of the West that is manifest even on the Carter buses that run through the streets. This demonstrates that the nation is in the grips of a consumption ideology that only results the people consuming things against their own true nation's interests. Rather than Coca-Cola, Ibrahim suggests, better to drink in the ideology of true anti-capitalist nationalism.
The tone of the work suggests that the author...
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