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Democracy In Arab World: Reality Or Pipedream?

Devil Soul

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George Emile Irani is Associated Professor in International Relations at the American University of Kuwait. — Editor

By George Emile Irani

THE so-called Arab Spring has come and gone replaced by an Islamist winter. A major question arises following the failure of mass protests to reach a democratic body politic from Tunis to Manama: is democracy possible in the Arab world? Following the French Revolution in 1789 it took almost one century for France to establish a democratic system. The same applies to the United Kingdom and other European countries. Democracy came at the barrel of a gun and a lot of bloodshed and wars.

Actually, if it was not for US intervention in World War II to defeat Hitler and his Nazis, Europe would still be today under dictatorial rule. There is however a major catch here. Europeans have throughout the centuries succeeded in creating secular and participatory civil societies. For instance, European civil society did not die in the countries of Eastern Europe even under ruthless socialist Soviet-controlled regimes. The important role civil society played in most of these Central European countries is today dramatized by the current struggle in Ukraine. Identity is fluctuating between those Ukrainians who want to join the EU and those who yearn for the rule of Mother Russia. The lesson that can be learned is that change can happen with peaceful means even if a country could lose its unity.

In the Arab Middle East today what we lack are the following vital and crucial ingredients that lead to democratic rule: a well-defined national identity, the rule of law, and a civil society As of today Arabs are still searching for their identity. What does it mean today to be Lebanese, Kuwaiti, Syrian, etc...? The only Arab country that can answer this question is Egypt the only Arab nation state using Western standards. Other countries in the region are still grappling with their identity formation. This is now dramatized by the current tragedy in Syria and Iraq.

The second ingredient is the rule of law. In the Arab countries today we have three types of law. First there is Sharia law that determines both the religious and temporal matters in a Muslim’s life. Then we have tribal or customary law still prevalent today in many Arab societies. The third type of law prevalent in the Arab Middle East is Western-based civil law which is usually used in settling business and non- religious matters. In all this we have the laws regulating Christian communities in the Middle East a legacy of the Ottoman millet system. Last but not least democracy requires a strong civil society. We have seen civil society members in both Tunisia and Egypt actively struggling for freedom in their respective countries.

Tunisia has had a long history with a strong labor movement and intellectual sector. The same could be said about Egypt. The fundamental weakness of Arab civil society though is the lack of freedom and years of authoritarian rule

The Arab world badly needs its own Age of Enlightenment. How long will it take to achieve it? Moreover, and to consolidate strong democratic rule Arabs are urged to move from being tribes with flags to globalized nation states. But then does Europe offer an answer? Look at Catalonia; in 2014 a referendum will be held on whether Catalans want to stay in Spain or split putting into question what being Spanish means.




By: George Emile Irani
Democracy in Arab World: Reality or pipedream?
 
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Arabs are not a special case and it is very much possible to have democracy there even though it wont be same as western democracy.
 
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The problem is that democracy or anything that may lead to some sort of peoples' rule is thwarted by religious zealots, dictators and monarchies in the area.
 
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The problem is that democracy or anything that may lead to some sort of peoples' rule is thwarted by religious zealots, dictators and monarchies in the area.

Canaan, you are one yourself.
 
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I want Saudi Arabians to wage war against haram monarchy but it seems that they don't want freedom from that Saudi royal family. Seems like they are being feeded well by royal family. :tup:
 
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I want Saudi Arabians to wage war against haram monarchy but it seems that they don't want freedom from that Saudi royal family. Seems like they are being feeded well by royal family. :tup:

First of all, try to liberate your country from India, kick out your sellout Gov't, and have some dignity to stand for your own people rather than wasting your energy on mere fantasy.


Seems like they are being feeded well by royal family

As a matter of fact, the first country we should suspend an aid to is yours, we should give them nothing, these Awamists are nothing but rats.
 
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I've always believed that Arabs are not ready for democracy yet. What they need at the moment is wise leaders and some real intellectuals who can have some kind of influence on their people.
 
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I've always believed that Arabs are not ready for democracy yet. What they need at the moment is wise leaders and some real intellectuals who can have some kind of influence on their people.

The problem is that, as I wrote earlier, any movement towards democracy or anything that would mean current rulers would lose power to or God forbid share power with the people is fought against. Because loosing power would mean loosing the ability to rob the state of its wealth as they all currently do. Somehow when they come to power, violently of course, they feel an eternal entitlement to the countries wealth.
 
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First of all, try to liberate your country from India, kick out your sellout Gov't, and have some dignity to stand for your own people rather than wasting your energy on mere fantasy.




As a matter of fact, the first country we should suspend an aid to is yours, we should give them nothing, these Awamists are nothing but rats.

Well, BD atleast has AL-BNP but Saudi Arabia doesn't even allow any party to be formed. Absolute Monarchy.

More democratic freedoms in Saudi Arabia? Not going to happen

saudi-arabia-democratic-freedoms.si.jpg

Saudi Arabia policies are enormously hypocritical. They discriminate against 10 percent of their own population, the Shiites, while saying they are intervening in Syria for more democracy, journalist Pepe Escobar told RT.

RT: There have been protests since 2011 in Saudi Arabia. There have been many arrests since then too, but there hasn’t been much global media coverage of this. Why do you think that is the case?

Pepe Escobar: We should break down the strategy of the House of Saud. Basically it’s carrots and stick. Carrots in the form of a $60 billion handout program by King Abdullah at the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011. The Saudis were horrified by the beginning of the Arab Spring in neighboring Bahrain. So they bribed their own subjects.

Number two, the stick is against the Shiite minority - roughly 10 percent of Saudi Arabia - who live in the Eastern province where most of the oil is by the way. They don’t want to bring down the house of Saud essentially. They want more participation, judiciary not answering to religious powers and basically more democratic freedoms. This is not going to happen in Saudi Arabia. Period. Nor in the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) petro-monarchies.

So it’s an enormous hypocrisy. They say to the Americans that they are intervening in Syria for a more democratic post-Assad Syria and inside Saudi Arabia it’s the Sunni-Shiite divide. They go against 10 percent of their own population.

RT: I know your newspaper is covering this, but why isn’t there global coverage of this story?

PE: The problem is [the] Saudi lobby industry is very strong, so whatever they tell the Americans and obviously compliant US corporate media [goes]. The Europeans are also in the same boat, and don’t forget that the Saudis control at least 90 percent of the media in the Middle East itself. The other 10 percent we can account for Al Jazeera from Qatar. So they tell the Middle Eastern public and Western public that they are on a fight to death against the Iranian infiltration on Iranian destabilization. Most public opinion in the West, they buy it.

There is no critical analysis about what the Saudis do in the region, what they have done science the Afghan Jihad in the 1980s where, by the way, they helped to destabilize Afghanistan for decades, because they were basically supplying the Mujahideen, they were the most radical of them all. Some of them became Al-Qaeda or, what the US tells us is the global Al-Qaeda. They are doing the same thing is Syria.

We come back to the contradiction, inside Saudi Arabia; the old Shiites generation didn’t want to bring the monarchy down. There is a very strong possibility that the younger generation, some of them unemployed, connected to the internet, on Facebook, on Google, on everything, the will want something radical against the House of Saud themselves.

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RT: Do you think those people who are protesting at the moment actually have a good chance of succeeding? Because we hear about the crackdown, but we also hear there is another opposition group called the Saudi Million. So despite the crackdown new protests groups keep appearing. What do you think the future is for them? Could they succeed at all?

PE: It is a good question because the crackdown is not working at all against the part of their own population. They are in Qatif, there are demonstration practically every week. There is a very important Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr, he is on trial at the moment and very hard core Wahhabi cleric in Saudi Arabia they are calling for his death penalty. If that happens, this is going to polarize the Shiite community as a whole, the old generation plus the younger Facebook-Google generation. It’s all extremely counterproductive because it is impossible for a feudal 7th-century regime to reform itself. The Wahhabi version of the Islamism Saudi Arabia is still 7th century. They will never reform and they will never respect Shiites.

RT: You say that they will never reform, but we have also seen and heard from the prince that is defected from the royal family. What impact do you think that will have?

PE: We are in the middle of a transition. King Abdullah, ‘is not busy being born, he is busy dying.’ That’s what is happening, he is busy dying and we don’t know who is going to be the heir to the throne in fact. Abdullah would like to put his son and there is a conflict between some of the most important branches of the House of Saud among themselves, including some of the top echelon of the 7,000 princes. Some of them we were used to seeing them in London, where they import their pink Lamborghinis and drive around like idiots. There is an internal configuration. They have an internal mini civil war, they discriminate against their own Shiites population, there is a problem inside the royal family and they still don’t know what they are going to do in the Middle East, even with the American support.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


More democratic freedoms in Saudi Arabia? Not going to happen — RT Op-Edge
 
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He does not support that Awami League.

Yes, bro, this guy is a supporter of Awami League, a party that is going to hold a one sided election where 154 Members of Parliament has already been "selected" without any votes, because the opposition decided to boycott this farce. With India's direct and indirect help, this Awami League is trying to eliminate democracy from Bangladesh, which has been there since 1991.

Sorry if he is bad mouthing Saudi Arabia, just note that he represents not more than 9% Hindu's and may be 4-5% Awami League supporters (so called "secular" Muslims), who always side with India and are mostly known as enemies of Islam and 85% Muslims in Bangladesh. I am not sure if he is Hindu or one of these "secular Muslim", but Awami League thugs (many of whom are Hindu) are killing Muslims indiscriminately. Anyone who opposes them or India, is their target. Some of the more educated ones have also been deployed online, like this guy here.

The problem we have is the opposition leader of BNP, Khaleda Zia is incompetent and no match for Awami League and their Indian advisers working behind the scenes. Essentially India has taken over Bangladesh using Awami League. Together they have taken over our Police and other security forces like RAB (Special Police), Border Gaurds and also the Army top brass. They increased number of generals from 22 to 40 and 30 of them are AL supporters. They have also ousted a large number of Army officers who are patriotic and not AL supporters.

The current situation is uncertain. Khaleda Zia has called for a "March for Democracy" on Dec. 29. We are waiting to see if people come out in the streets and support Khaleda Zia's call. If nothing significant happens, Bangladesh will be a lost cause for some time. Hasina will establish her dictatorial rule in a sham election in Jan. 5, 2014 and Bangladesh will effectively remain a vassal state of India, which it already is.

We will then just have to wait for people of Bangladesh to wake up, when they suffer more under Hasina and her Indian sponsors. Welcome to a new North Korea on Global scene, thanks to India and their local agents in Bangladesh.

Yearender: Mounting political turmoil dims Bangladesh's future - Xinhua | English.news.cn
 
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Yes, bro, this guy is a supporter of Awami League, a party that is going to hold a one sided election where 154 Members of Parliament has already been "selected" without any votes, because the opposition decided to boycott this farce. With India's direct and indirect help, this Awami League is trying to eliminate democracy from Bangladesh, which has been there since 1991.

Sorry if he is bad mouthing Saudi Arabia, just note that he represents not more than 9% Hindu's and may be 4-5% Awami League supporters (so called "secular" Muslims), who always side with India and are mostly known as enemies of Islam and 85% Muslims in Bangladesh. I am not sure if he is Hindu or one of these "secular Muslim", but Awami League thugs (many of whom are Hindu) are killing Muslims indiscriminately. Anyone who opposes them or India, is their target. Some of the more educated ones have also been deployed online, like this guy here.

Why are you getting personal? Is it an inherent behavior of many Jamaat supporters to suspect every opposition to be a Hindu or Indian?

Don't create religious hatred on PDF. Why do you guys always do it and who said Hindus are killing Muslims in BD? If you deeply hate a specific religious group atleast keep it in yourself. Don't spread hatred in public forum to get political advantage. Islam may denounce every other belief system but never commands followers to hate people based on religion, race, class etc.
 
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