Cultural globalism on display in a cage

When we say the UAE is a multicultural society most people who have not lived here disbelieve the statement, or dismiss it as, at best, a marketing cliché.

But when events like the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) come to town the term multicultural ceases to be just a word and starts to become a reality — a drenched reality as far as one Emirati lady is concerned.

Sitting in the audience at the very first UFC event in history to be held outdoors I looked around.

Next to me was a stereotypical American "easy rider" biker, complete with a potbelly and elaborate tattoos of human skulls and spider webs on his large forearms. Right behind him were two young Emirati ladies, dressed very elegantly in their black abayas. The one closest to me stood out more than her friend, thanks to the decorative Japanese fan she was cooling herself with. This is the best example of cultural globalism, I remember thinking to myself. How else would these two types of people, who look as though they are from two different solar systems, share the same space?

Between bouts, people rushed to the food and drink stands to top up. A gentleman trying to get back to his seat in our section while delicately balancing a tray of plastic cups of drinks somehow tripped. I guess the Japanese fan threw him off his stride. Down came the tray and its contents, right in the middle of the Emirati lady's lap. It might have been my poetic imagination but I would swear the place went silent for a few seconds. I will never forget the look on the woman's face. Needless to say, she did not stay to see the main fight.

"This is what happens when you catapult a conservative group of people such as Emiratis into cultural globalism. You can't have your cake and eat it too," a cynical voice inside me whispered. It wasn't until the end of the event, as I drove back to Dubai, that it dawned on me: the best example of cultural globalism is found not outside the cage, but inside it.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) in many ways symbolises the spirit of cultural globalism. To be truly successful in MMA you need to be well rounded in all disciplines of fighting, from striking and grappling to ground fighting. Fighters who specialise in training in just one field without paying enough attention to the other arts very quickly find themselves like fish out of water.

Not what you'd expect

Many things in the fighting arts are counter-intuitive. For example, top-class strikers will tell you that by studying grappling they actually became better strikers. Pure strikers in MMA exert a lot of their energy in trying not to be taken down. This makes their body rigid and tense when they compete. Learning the art of grappling teaches them not to fear being on the ground. This in turn makes them more relaxed and, as a consequence, they become far more dangerous and effective in the art of striking.

Cultural globalisation follows the same pattern. The groups of people who stay in their monocultural circles and build walls around themselves often exert a tremendous amount of energy trying to preserve the status quo — so much so that, with the slightest shift, their universe is rocked and change is looked on as a threat rather than an opportunity to improve.

To bring this closer to home, some Emirati intellectuals are very concerned about the widespread use of English in their country. According to the experts, Arabic is on the defensive, to say the least. Forcing people by law to use Arabic can only go so far. What we ought to do is exercise the counter-intuitiveness of the fighting arts. This entails diligently studying the factors of success of English and adapting it to how we currently use and teach Arabic.

The same goes for "individualism". Many argue that cultural globalism aims to break down community values by encouraging the young to become more individualistic. There is no doubt that some do break away from their communities but others have used the rise of "individualism" as an opportunity to discover themselves, with the ultimate aim of giving back to their communities. Just as the striker becomes better at striking because he studies grappling, these individuals become better contributors to their society and their country by becoming stronger.

One must not be naïve of course. There are many negative elements that one has to beware of while embracing cultural globalism. "Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own" are the words Bruce Lee used to explain his martial arts philosophy. But these words go far beyond the martial arts. The father of MMA also said, "Look for what works, no matter from where".

By applying these martial-arts philosophies to our lives we can produce the global Emirati of tomorrow — one who can learn from everything and survive anywhere.

- Wael Al Sayegh is an Emirati cultural consultant, poet and writer.