Issue No. 597
Opinion
Previous issue
Site map
|
|
1 - 7 August 2002 Issue No. 597 Opinion |
Current issue Previous issue Site map | |
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Democratic reductionism
Hassan Nafaa questions the sincerity of Washington's newly espoused belief that democracy is the way forward in the Arab world
There is no doubt that US attitudes towards the Arab world have changed since 11 September 2001. Before then it was confident of its footing in the region, sure of its ability to achieve its major goals -- ensuring the greatest possible security for Israel and guaranteeing the flow of oil at the cheapest possible prices, promoting its "allies" and "friends" and keeping "rebel" and "rogue" regimes surrounded and in check. This complacency was profoundly shaken after 11 September, especially when it learned that many of the perpetrators of those strikes were from countries it ranked as its Arab "friends" and "allies".
As Washington sought explanations it was gripped by deep anxiety over its enormous interests in the region. It was only natural that this would give rise to a thorough revision of the former certainties that governed its policies, a process that evidently led to the conclusion that its support for undemocratic regimes in the Arab world, or even turning a blind eye to the repressive policies of these regimes, may represent the greatest danger to US interests in the long run. Having reached this conclusion, the issue of democracy in the Arab world became a US foreign policy agenda priority. Then, influential Zionist forces in the US seized upon the state of confusion following 11 September and began to propound an organic link between the absence of democracy in the Arab and Islamic worlds and terrorism. The thinly disguised aim of such arguments was to brand Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation as terrorism.
I followed the transition in the US perspective at close quarters when, last April, I was invited to participate in an open discussion circle organised by the Near Eastern Studies Institute in Washington on "Democracy and the future of Arab-American relations in the post-11 September period". Although I knew that the institute was one of the pro- Zionist academic strongholds in the US, I made up my mind to attend in the hope that the opportunity would offer me a chance to get a first hand sense of the current mood in the US. This proved to be the case. From the interaction in the seminar and the cross section of opinion espoused a deep sense of anxiety began to emerge, over the future in general, and over US relations with this part of the world in particular.
The complexities of the subject, though, were reduced to the following formula: the events of 11 September were appalling and unacceptable; they could happen again if the situation with regard to the absence of democracy remains unchanged; can the US do anything to boost democratisation in the Arab world, and if so, what?
In the discussion circle in which I participated the chair, Robert Satloff, cited a passage from Bush's State of the Union Address, claiming that the US is determined to spread the scope of democracy in the world. He then asked the participants to comment on this passage as a prelude to a dialogue on the way the US can promote democracy in the Arab world. When it came my turn to speak, I made the following points:
Firstly, democracy and respect for human rights are aspirations all peoples of the world share. That some peoples have been unable to fulfil these aspirations is often due to discrepancies in the social and political structures of their societies, preventing the realisation of the necessary equilibrium for conducting the political process in accordance with democratic norms. At the same time it could also be the result of the absence of a climate abroad conducive to the realisation of such an equilibrium at home.
Secondly, the US is not the country that people of this region can rely upon to generate a foreign climate conducive to fostering and supporting a true process of democratisation. The US has a long record of supporting dictatorships and of plotting to overthrow democratically elected governments. Whenever the defence of democratic values has come into conflict with the defence of US interests, the latter always win out.
Thirdly, if the US were sincere in its desire to promote democratisation in the Arab world it could help generate the appropriate regional and international climate. The shortest route towards that end would be to contribute to a just and comprehensive settlement to the Middle East conflict, after which the peoples of the region should be left to choose their own leaders and systems of government without any intervention in their domestic affairs.
The longer this chronic conflict persists without a just solution the more it will feed the growth of extremism on both sides and provide the excuse for perpetuating the least tolerant, most autocratic and most aggressive social forces and regimes. The US will not be able to help realise a just solution as long as it persists in its unconditional bias for Israel. Nor will the peoples of the region be free to choose their leaders as long as the US continues to intervene so blatantly in the domestic affairs of the countries of the Arab world.
Although many of the participants in the seminar saw the logic of my argument, it was nonetheless poles apart from the American perception of the problem of democracy in the Arab world. This perspective has been shaped to a large extent by Zionist perspectives portraying Israel as an oasis of democracy in a cultural desert obdurately resistant to democracy. Recent events have demonstrated that Washington's attitudes towards the question of democratic transition in this part of the world since 11 September are synonymous with the ideas propagated by Zionist circles.
It came as little surprise, therefore, that the first volley from that camp of opinion should come from Bernard Lewis. The elderly Jewish Orientalist classified the countries of this region in the post- 11 September phase into three categories: those whose governments support the US but whose peoples do not (Egypt and Saudi Arabia); those whose peoples are attached to the US but whose governments are not (Iran, Iraq and, perhaps, Libya and Sudan); and those whose governments and peoples coincide in their support (Turkey and Israel). Evidently, this is the type of handy classification needed to prepare the American mind for the type of policy towards the region the US will follow in its attempts to avert a repetition of the events of 11 September.
The premises of this policy are as follows: Israel and Turkey are the two countries most capable of playing a secure and stable role in the region and US policy on the region must therefore base itself around them. Those countries whose peoples love the US should have their non-democratic governments toppled, even if that entails using force. As for those peoples who hate America, they are quite obviously prey to a form of psychological disorder that can be remedied by assisting their pro- American regimes to change educational curricula and media policies.
These premises are already being translated into practice. Sharon was given the green light to deal with the Palestinian Intifada and the PA in his own inimitable way. Plans have been drawn up and military preparations have begun for eliminating, at the appropriate time, firstly the regime in Iraq, and eventually those of Iran, Syria, Libya and Sudan. Thirdly, a close eye is being kept on the educational and media systems of such countries as Saudi Arabia and Egypt to ensure they are purged of all elements that Washington believes could generate extremist thought.
Can such a policy practically contribute to fostering democratic practices in an Arab world, which, in the eyes of many, exists outside the bounds of history and is fortified against the winds of universal change? The obvious answer is no. However, it is surprising that some in the Arab world actually support this contention and believe that the US is not only earnest in its desire, but can effectively contribute to the realisation of true democratisation. Such delusions stem from an inability to differentiate between the American model, with its domestic democratic institutions and its prowess in all military, political, economic and technological domains, and the tendencies to domination and hegemony inherent in this model. I thoroughly agree that the American model offers one of the finest and most dynamic socio-political systems in the world and that it rightfully remains a society that millions around the world aspire to live in.
However, this does not obviate the reality of the US's international comportment, which, in recent years in particular, has sunk to despicable levels. When Washington calls for reforming the PA and ousting Arafat, or talks of the need to topple Saddam Hussein, we can be certain that it is acting, not so much from the desire to stamp out tyranny or corruption as from the desire to use tyranny and corruption as a pretext for reordering the region in a manner favourable to Israel. We are all aware that the US backed Saddam Hussein fully when he was fighting against the Islamic revolutionaries in Iran and that Yasser Arafat was a regular guest at the White House before he refused to capitulate to Israeli dictates. Could it be that Washington at that time believed that Saddam Hussein's regime was a model of a budding democracy or that Arafat was a model of integrity? Hardly.
Is it not time that the US, as well as that sector of the Arab elite that still gives it the benefit of the doubt, realises that the Arab peoples aspire to democracy and perceive in it their shortest and surest path to freedom, independence, development and unity? Is it not time that the US and that elite come to the conviction that if these people do not create their own democracies, then no one will be able to do it for them? I am certain that the peoples of this region realise that the US is not sincere in its claim to want democracy in the Arab world, which leads me to another certainty: in order to realise their aspiration to democracy, the Arab peoples will have to wrest democracy for themselves, not only against the will of their rulers, but also against the will of the US.
The writer is professor of political science at Cairo University.
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
