Arabs show their rage
Outrage over the US-British war on Iraq has spilled onto Arab streets. Sherine Bahaa reports
For weeks, the Arab streets dreamt of a miracle -- a turnaround by the United States; a coup; a decision by Saddam to go into exile -- anything to avoid the long- feared war. Last Thursday at dawn saw the end of the peaceful options as the diplomatic clock ran out of time and the US-British war was launched against Iraq.
Hours after the first sirens were heard in Baghdad, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life in Arab countries took to the streets in protest; Muslims, Christians, young and old, parliamentarians, housewives and students. Egypt was the launchpad for the demonstrations that swept the Arab world.
Yemen, Sudan, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria and Lebanon witnessed their largest demonstrations in years, which continued round the clock during the first few days of the war.
Frustration is evident, this time it is not only against the US administration and its ally Britain, but against all Arab regimes.
"The Arab streets do not differentiate between American aggression and those countries which are party, either secretly or openly, to this aggression," said Main Bashour, head of the Beirut-based Arab National Forum.
And Arab public opinion, it seems, concurs with the classification of Arab countries made by Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan.
In a speech to the Iraqis on Sunday, Ramadan criticised all Arab regimes, dividing them into three categories according to their degree of cooperation with the US. The first group, Ramadan pointed out, contained those regimes involved in conspiratorial planning with the Americans. Kuwait was placed in this division. The second group consisted of those countries which are coordinating secretly with the US administration but their "secret is unveiled". The third group consisted of those "weak" countries who did not even tolerate street demonstrations against the US "plot" in the region.
Demonstrations which did take place in the region resulted in clashes between protestors and security forces, most of which were violent. Shocking pictures of civilians being gunned down in countries like Yemen, Jordan and Sudan further flamed indignation.
Protestors throughout the region have all been making the same demands, which ranged from the closure of US and British embassies to the expulsion of their troops from the region. Protestors even went as far as to demand the resignation of all Arab regimes, citing their inability to avert war on a country ravaged by 12 years of sanctions as the reason.
"Demonstrations will continue until the governments take positions that are consistent with Arab aspirations. Where is the Arab Defence Treaty? It should be implemented as soon as possible. Arab troops should be in Iraq now," reiterated Bashour, referring to a treaty made under the auspices of the Arab League in which Arab countries provide protection for any other Arab country under threat.
"Where are the Arab forces?" is the question that has been echoing through the Arab streets since the Israeli re- invasion of Palestinian territories and throughout the current crisis.
People still remember the 1973 War against Israel when Arab forces, including those from Iraq, formed a united front to liberate both Egyptian and Syrian territories from Israeli occupation. "But those days are gone now," lamented a Bahraini university student during a demonstration.
In fact, demonstrations in Bahrain, where the US Navy's Fifth Fleet is anchored, terminated in clashes with police in which two people were injured. Protestors threw three home- made petrol bombs into the US Embassy garden, one of which started a small fire. Security forces in all Arab countries placed US and British embassies under tight security for fear of terrorist attacks that would embarrass their governments.
Jordan too, wedged between Israel on the west and Iraq on the east, has seen its share of protests. The people there have demonstrated their rage at the provision by their country of logistical aid to US military special forces operating in western Iraq.
In Ma'an, an Islamist stronghold, thousands of Islamists clashed with the police after the authorities sealed off parts of the capital to contain pro-Iraq protests. Ibrahim Alloush, a vocal critic of the normalisation of diplomatic relations with Israel and of ties with the west, was arrested last Monday.
In an attempt to calm the situation, Jordanian King Abdullah announced his readiness to reinstate the Iraqi diplomats who had been previously expelled for security reasons.
In Yemen, where the Ba'ath Party enjoys strong support, three demonstrators were killed in what was described as the largest protest in the Arab world.
Tens of thousands of angry demonstrators marched to the US Embassy in Sanaa chanting slogans against the US, Israel and Arab leaders. Yemenis even went as far as asking their government to open the way for embarking on a jihad alongside the Iraqi forces.
"There is a gap between the 'Arab street' and the regimes," Dawoud Al-Shorian, Saudi columnist and advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Abdulla Bin Abdul-Aziz, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
However, as Shorian pointed out, this gap has been there for a long time. "The regimes in the region are not democratic; human rights and democratic practices are absent."
Shorian, and other Arab intellectuals, believe change is imminent but difficult. "Change will come at the expense of Arab unity and the lives of civilians."
Change has already begun at grass-roots level. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was not the Arabs' favourite leader, but like it or not, since March 20 he is the most popular Arab leader in the region today. "If he wins, he will be a hero, and if he is defeated we will have to remember he stood alone in the face of illegal aggression," said a young Syrian protestor, as he was marching in a protest in Sett Zeinab Square in Damascus.
Saddam Hussein today remains the one and only Arab leader who did not cave in under American pressure.
This is what mainly counts to Arabs. "The man in the street sees the US as a country that wants to impose its will on his way of life under the [guise] of democracy," said Ibrahim Al-Dakkak, Palestinian professor in Beir Zeit University.
According to Al-Dakkak, the US administration wants to change the way people think. They started by calling for changing the school curricula and by criticising Islamic institutions. "They [the US] are very serious about that, and if it happens it will increase instability and will convince the man in the street that the situation is unbearable."
But no matter what the result of the war will be, it marks the beginning of a new era in the region.
"This war will bring change to the international political order as well as the Arab political order, and will also mark a shift in the international decision-making process," Shorian declared.
Shorian was referring to the inability of the UN Security Council to prevent the US-led war; this fact was viewed by many as the end of the UN. "From now on, the role of the UN will be confined to extending humanitarian aid as well as following up on the actions taken by the US, rather than controlling the situation itself," Shorian explained.
"What we are witnessing today is very much like what happened after the 1948 war, but this time things are worse. In 1948, Palestine was the target but today the whole region is targeted. The overthrow of Saddam Hussein is but the beginning of a larger operation that will sweep all the Arab regimes," Shorian concluded.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 27 March - 2 April 2003 (Issue No. 631)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/631/sc12.htm