Western Democracy in the Middle East
An online poll was recently carried out by the Arabic website of Aljazeera satellite television, where well over 80 percent of voters said that they distrust "Western democracy". The poll results simply restated the obvious. The query, of course, hardly meant to question "Western democracy" in its own right, but rather its imposition on the Arab world.
Needless to say, one needs no poll, scientific or otherwise, to conclude that the majority of Arabs are in desperate need of democratic measures. But they need democracy for their own sake, not for the sake of one who wishes to legitimize an occupation and to tout the virtues of a superpower.
If Aljazeera tested its readers' views on democracy, as a model without the word "Western" trotting along, the overwhelming votes would have most likely been cast in favor of democracy, that honorable value first coined by the ancient Greeks as "citizenry rule".
Arabs covet democracy because they are disenfranchised and have very little control over their individual as well as collective destiny. But most Arabs find it difficult to make a choice, between the governance of theocratic and totalitarian regimes on the one hand, and a foreign-imposed, spurious democracy, which they perceive as a US invention to justify meddling in their affairs, on the other. The choice would be difficult for anyone, and it is anything but fair.
Despite President George W. Bush's constant exhortations that he too wishes to set the Arab masses free, his words resonate nowhere in the Middle East, save Israel for its own tactical reasons. For ordinary Arabs, Bush is simply a hypocrite; for the politically savvy, the man's messianic mission is a frenzied attempt to put a face on his corporate and militant drive for wealth and power.
Most Arabs see the paradox of Western democracy in practice, both in the West and in their region. In fact, they live the paradox.
If you find yourself engaged in a heated political conversation with an Arab person - and most likely you will with the first one you meet - you would be surprised to learn of their deep admiration for Western democracy in its own Western hemisphere. You'll hear of fantastic, often exaggerated stories, of the freedom enjoyed by Western societies, freedoms that not many Arab countries can match, not by a long shot.
But the wheel of Western democracy either grinds to a halt or completely changes course and momentum once it reaches the Middle East; the values, the style and the goals becomes different, even though much of the rhetoric remains constant and unchanged.
Thus, Arabs are very suspicious of "Western democracy" vis-a-vis their own region. This distrust can hardly be explained in cultural terms - the Arab culture is not essentially cynical. The empirical encounters however, are more than enough to cultivate such a determined and steady level of skepticism.
"Democracy is a form of government under which the power to alter structure of government and laws lie, ultimately with the citizenry," one definition reads.
Democracy "is a government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system," states another, quoted by the US Department of State website.
Need one invoke Abraham Lincoln's famous phrase that democracy is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," to further stress the point?
But the "people" of the Middle East are hardly the ultimate recipients of "Western democracy" as understood by most Arabs and as demonstrated by US actions in the region for nearly half a century.
A prevailing example of this dichotomy is the case of Arafat and Abbas. Late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was elected by a decisive majority in the Palestinian Authority elections, held for the first time in 1996. He lived and died popular among his people. Yet he was undercut and deemed "irrelevant" for embracing a political line, which proved incongruous from an American and Israeli perspective.
His successor, Mahmoud Abbas held a fraction of Arafat's popular support during the man's life and won a less impressive victory in the PA elections following Arafat's death. But Abbas holds a political line that is acceptable to both Israel and the United States. Thus, Abbas' victory has become the standard, which defines what is right and proper, and what is not, as far as democratic conduct is concerned, not just for Palestinians but also for the rest of the Arab world.
This is hardly the first case of this double standard. There was the toppling by the CIA of the first genuine democracy in the Middle East in 1953 - the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, and the installing of the pro-US dictatorship of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Since then, the United States has been lending support to the most oppressive regimes as loyal guards to American interests in the region.
By the time this article is published, Iraqi elections will be over and the Bush administration will do its utmost to ensure that the numbers are spun in positive terms: High turnout could mean that Iraqis approve of the US military occupation; low turn out, means the terrorist-espoused culture of fear is overpowering Iraqis and thus the US presence is still required.
That is the definition or type of democracy that Arabs oppose. It's not democracy that they distrust. It is the cynical exploitation of the term for imperial or geostrategic purposes that they oppose.
Ramzy Baroud is a veteran Arab-American journalist. A regular columnist in many English and Arabic publications, he is editor-in-chief of PalestineChronicle.com and program producer at Aljazeera Satellite Television
He is also the editor of the anthology: "Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion."
To buy "Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion" CLICK HERE
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was imported by the Normans that conquered Sicily after the Arabs. The poetic style they encountered was very popular and was adopted by...(dramatic music) William Shakespeare!
I'll give you an example:
"Serenade To My Sleeping Distress"
Sure Harut's potent spells were breathed
Upon that magic sword, thine eye;
For if it wounds us thus while sheathed,
When drawn, 'tis vain its edge to fly
How canst thou doom me, cruel fair,
Plunged in the hell of scorn to groan?
No idol e'er this heart could share,
The heart has worshipped thee alone"
-Ali ben Abad
Pretty cool, wouldn't you say? If you're interested in more Moorish poetry check out www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/moorishpoetry.html
Also, I met a Libyan brother at the masjid the other week, and the brother speaks Moorish! The language yet endures. Alhamdulilah.
Do you not believe that all humanity is descended from Adam (white people included), created by Allah, and worthy of receiving the revelations dispensed by Allah to his prophets?
With the abundant resources in the muslim lands, if the leaderships had been sincere to themselves, they should be leading the world not following. Before the morden practical application of scientific discoveries, the Qur'an had alluded to them. What were we busy doing? Why did we reduce the Qur'an to only clauses and phrases and only to be read over and over instead of taking as a guide, a code of conduct and a challenge and an impetus to explore the wonders and bounties and treasures of the world which today have become instrumental to the American domination of the world and its imposition of its satanic culture? What type of interpretation of Quran do we give to the people that made a number of muslim nations lazy, poor and beggers and corrupt? Lets search ourselves and see where we are wrong, only then shall we be able to advance a leadership that will not only be a model but will crush the growing threat of the double-standard, American-propagated democracy, which allows turture when it suits, allows tribunals when it suits, detention without trial when it suits, tell lies to justify aggression when it suits and ignore international opinion when it suits.
Instead of saying MUSLIMS they say "Arabs" so they can divide the UMMAH.
Being raised in the house of "pharoah"(400= years of slavery) I know all of his DIRTY tricks!!!
"ol dubya" is not as dumb as the media makes him out to be."He" is very well aware of our ISLAMIC and prophetic teachings and what to expect before YAUM AL-QIYAMAH!!!
If our beloved MOHAMMED RASULILAHI (peace and blessings for ever be upon him) was here and witnessed the pathetic state that our UMMAH was in he would first "cleanse his house" of all MUNAFIQUN and then without the shadow of a doubt "scale back" al-nassara and put them in their "place"!!!
I almost forgot SAYADINA ISA and AL MAHDI(may ALLAH be pleased with them)will get the job done!!!
Take it or leave it.
Do you think that dubya's democracy will bring back the lives of the 180,000 Iraqis that were slaughtered for no reason.
Did our RASULILAHI choose pagan greco/roman europe as a place for HIJIRAH or their laws to run the fresh and newly formed ISLAMIC STATE.
Neither did any of the RASHIDUN KHALIFAHS, or the rightly guided after them or the rightly guided in modern times.
When "christianity" was "given to the African"American" slave do you think it was "Mr. Charlie's pure heart and benevolence" to make the slave equall with himself.
The same DUMB trick is being played on the "Arabs".
I think it is obsurd to have an "Arab Summit" what we need is MUSLIM SHURA from all walks of life minus KARIRUN imput!!!
My have times changed, it was my ancestors who civilized the backward European for nearly 800 years in MOORISH(MUSLIM)SPAIN and now were trying to use the outdated system of democracy.
All you tough guys I want you to answer this?
Why has'nt amerikkka solved the racism,police brutality,CIA drug sales,FORNICATION,ADULTRY, ANIMAL SEX,ABORTIONS,domestic violece,RAPE,alcoholics wi