Time was that everything oriental filtered into the Western imagination through the mist of Arabian Nights -- a mix of fairytale and exotic sensuality. But the nocturnal myths have dissipated. Now we have Arabian Days, complete with rocket fire and bombings, and disenchantment with US colonialism in Iraq. The Arabian Days are not just a revolt against the destruction and havoc caused by the US-UK invasion, but a settling of accounts following long years. The Arabian Days are the beginning of a new stand towards global hegemony, and not just in Iraq. In Palestine, as well as in other parts of the Arab and Islamic worlds, people are no longer swallowing false US promises of democracy and liberation. Shehrazade's muse has lost its appeal.
America cannot bewitch the Arab and Islamic world into submission. At a time of globalisation, information revolution, and the recognition of human rights, people expect deeds, not rhetoric. In Iraq, the Americans disbanded the Iraqi army and dismantled state institutions, only to give contracts worth billions to US companies. The casualties that fall daily belie official statements that claim everything is rosy.
The US wants to blame the actions of the Iraqi resistance on foreign rather than domestic forces. The sad fact of the matter is that the Iraqi scene has turned into a battlefield for all the forces involved in today's global conflicts: the US, the West, ruling regimes, national resistance, revolutionary parties, armed factions, and all the forces of terror and extremism on all sides.
If the time of Arabian Nights is over, equally true: American Days in the region are numbered.
This week's Soapbox speaker is professor of political science at Helwan University.
Time was that everything oriental filtered into the Western imagination through the mist of Arabian Nights -- a mix of fairytale and exotic sensuality. But the nocturnal myths have dissipated. Now we have Arabian Days, complete with rocket fire and bombings, and disenchantment with US colonialism in Iraq. The Arabian Days are not just a revolt against the destruction and havoc caused by the US-UK invasion, but a settling of accounts following long years. The Arabian Days are the beginning of a new stand towards global hegemony, and not just in Iraq. In Palestine, as well as in other parts of the Arab and Islamic worlds, people are no longer swallowing false US promises of democracy and liberation. Shehrazade's muse has lost its appeal.
