The West is fascinated by its system as well as its health, educational, scientific and cultural institutions that have contributed and influenced significantly in the formation of the global system.

This global system in reality is the product of an extended historical development, reflecting the values of work, respect for the law and human rights. However, the beautiful face of the West hides behind it the face of a genie and a very unjust and cruel monster.

It is the savage Western capitalism that has harnessed its sciences and progress to control and dominate the world and human resources for the welfare of its peoples, with tightening control over them intellectually through their soft powers and institutions.

This ugly and hidden face was exposed through the objective studies on social and political life, as well as through the writings of philosophers and thinkers. They include the French philosopher Michel Foucault, who summarized, in his book, this perversion of the Western system in a phrase, which is the opposite of the common phrase: “The body is the prison of the soul.”

This great French philosopher shockingly reversed the order of words and meaning, in a way that makes us rethink the common saying, and pushes us to search for what he aims and symbolizes by saying that “the soul is the prison of the body.”

This phrase shows the extent of the hegemony exercised by the West at home and over its citizens, which contradicts all the slogans the West raises. It reveals how the West was able to drain human rights of their essence and content.

This phrase comes from Foucault’s book “Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison.” The book deals with studying the penal systems in Europe from the 17th century until the beginning of the 20th century.

This phrase by Foucault sums up how the spiritual and psychological aspects of man can be exploited to subjugate and control him. When a person becomes a prisoner of his soul, domination becomes subjective, that is, from within the person.

The authority uses education, schools, and institutions to achieve this goal until the person becomes dominant over himself and his body. Thus, man adheres to a specific system and submits to external dictates as personal choices that stem from his will, while this will is the product of the power that employs the soul to control the body.

The basic idea presented by the book is that power in every age aims to control its subjects by controlling their bodies, through programs and systems for social, moral and legal control.

Foucault argues that the soul is only a means to control the body; its presence itself is for this control. Foucault means by this phrase, “the spiritual, moral and psychological aspects that we express with the word soul are exploited to dominate man from within; and so people internalize the system of domination within themselves; and surrender to external dictates as personal choices stemming from their will, while their will is the product of power.

Philosopher Foucault took an interest in the margins of society, focusing on topics neglected by philosophy, such as madness, crime, sexuality, and their direct relevance to his time.

Through research, he revealed how power is no longer concentrated in the political authority that is held by the state; rather, authoritarian sites have been established with full presence within the community.

These sites and facilities aim to standardize the standards and norms of behavior among members of society. If the oppressive and obstructive political authority is pursuing to silence mouths, keeping ignorance and backwardness to remain among the ranks of the public, and suppressing freedoms and desires, then other facilities will become productive, making speeches and urging disclosure.

The West is experiencing an existential crisis, as former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said. The West is trying to remain the only player in this world that can rob the wealth of developing countries through this situation. The West’s desire to eliminate its competitors, China and Russia, is in fact one of the main reasons for this crisis in the world.

This struggle among big powers has exposed the hidden side of the West, though the West is not interested in this matter because it is preoccupied with this existential conflict that threatens its entity, interests, and capabilities.