Hi everyone!
Well, yesterday there was yet another round of protests in Egypt and again the military did not hesitate to use violence in an effort to stem the tide. A peaceful sit-in outside the Egyptian cabinet building turned deadly as members of the military threw rocks and file cabinets down upon the protestors from the roof of a government building.
Polling stations across the country were also scenes of violence between civilians and the army as the second stage of the election was held for positions in the new parliament. The military--once all-powerful---is running scared. Once again, votes coming in confirm the fact that the new Egyptian Parliament is taking on an Islamic bent with the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis earning the majority share of votes, an identical outcome as was seen in round one. The military is secular. The prominence of the Islamists in the new government basically cancels out the influence of the military...at least this would be the case if the military backed down and let true democracy take its course. Unfortunately, it seems, the military has no such plans.
Protests yesterday were not confined to just Egypt. Syria was wracked by violence yet again with reports, according to the New York Times, of at least 17 people killed by government troops. A recent United Nations count puts the total Syrian death toll since the protests began there at 5,000.
Also there's a brouhaha brewing in the southwestern Chinese province of Wufan where the local population have basically taken over a village to protest a local government land-grab. It seems the Chinese government buys land at cut-rate prices that should be owned by the locals and then sells the same land to government-sponsored building companies for a considerable profit, completely shutting the villagers out of the deal. The current protest started after one of the village spokesmen was mysteriously taken into custody by the police and died. The police claim the man had a heart attack but family who came to identify the body said it betrayed signs of torture. The body of course has not been released back to the family while an escalating military presence on the outskirts of the village harbors the potential for rather unpleasant things to come.
Time magazine in its annual end-of-the-year 'Person of the Year' issue awarded this year's honor to the Protestor. It does indeed seem that 2011 is the year of the protest, of the long-oppressed silent majority finding their collective voice and using it to inspire change. The videos and Tweets coming out of places like Cairo, Homs, Manama, Moscow and Wufan frighten and inspire at the same time. My heart goes out to everyone--young and old--who are simply pursuing the basic human rights of democratic representation and the chance to create a better life for their young and loved ones. But, as I've said before and will undoubtedly say again, those in positions of power here in the West need to respect and support whatever results this democratic process brings into being, regardless of whether these new governments are secular or (in the Middle East) Islamic. That's what happens in a democracy--the people elect their leaders without outside pressure or influence. Sure, it may make many of us uncomfortable to see Egypt turn into another theocracy (not that this will happen) like Iran, but who are we to tell the people otherwise? Unless we live in these countries, or are out there occupying Tahrir Square, we don't have a voice. We can only observe and pass the message along.
Ciao.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: "Do you believe Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will ever cede control, or will he go down fighting like Qadaffi?"
Showing posts with label Egyptian elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egyptian elections. Show all posts
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Arab Spring
Hi everyone!
So Syria's President Bashir al-Assad gave an interview with the Western media today defending his response to Syria's prolonged and increasingly bloody civic uprising. He essentially said that he was doing no more than what any government leader would do--specifically the U.S.--as a means of putting down national dissent. This is rich coming from the leader of a country that has at least a half-century history of ruthlessly cracking down on anyone who dares speak out against The Establishment which now finds itself on increasingly shaky territory in a region that has been rocked by unprecedented anti-government turmoil for the last year.
Like many of us, I have followed the so-called Arab Spring with interest though I admit after the initial euphoric months in Tunisia and Egypt I haven't paid as much attention to it as perhaps I should. The civil war in Libya culminating in the death of Moammar Qadaffi was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me. It is great that the long-oppressed people in these countries were finally acting out against their oppressors, but the question that kept coming to mind was: "Okay, what now? What plan do these rebel factions have for peacefully instituting a government to replace the one they've overthrown?" It just seemed to me that violence was merely begetting more violence. I believe that while democratic reforms are necessary, I think it is unreasonable and even irresponsible to expect that a region with little to no experience with democracy can be expected to change itself overnight.
I also find the West's response to the Arab Spring interesting in and of itself. In the past week, Egypt has implemented--successfully by most accounts--the first of a three-phase wave of parliamentary elections unlike any the country has ever experienced. This is terrific. However, we must be prepared to deal with the fact that when you give the people a democratic vote, you need to accept whom they vote into office even as the new government may not necessarily fall in line with what you hope to be the final outcome. There is concern being expressed in the media that Egypt's new parliament is weighted too heavily in favor of the Islamists, with the Moslem Brotherhood and the Salafist parties taking the most seats in Egypt's new government. If this is what the Egyptian people want, who are we in the West to say that this is not acceptable? I realize that it calls into question some of the alliances and treaties the U.S. has helped to broker over the years, chiefly the Egyptian-Israeli peace accords, but perhaps it's time for the U.S. and other Western governments to take a step back and focus more on the social and economic problems plaguing our own countries before criticizing or condemning others?
In my quest to learn more about the socioeconomic and political history of the modern Middle East, I came across a recently published book by respected Middle East correspondent and Washington Post columnist Robin Wright. "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World" (Simon & Schuster, 2011) does an insightful and eminently readable job of introducing readers to the roots of the current unrest. In the book's first couple of chapters, Ms. Wright focuses on how the Arab Spring started--with the self-immolation of a young Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi after being accosted by a female Tunisian city inspector who claimed Mr. Bouazizi was operating without a license. Because he was poor, Mr. Bouazizi did not have the seven dollars needed to bribe the official to remain in business. He was humiliated, his livelihood was taken away from him, he didn't know what else to do. So he set himself on fire and this shocking image was soon spread virally through Facebook and YouTube throughout the Middle East. When people feel they do not have a voice, they understandably resort to extreme measures.
While I've only read the first three chapters of Ms. Wright's book so far, I urge everyone and anyone with an interest in learning more about the Arab Spring and its subsequent protest movements to pick up a copy of the book and get educated. By focusing on the plight of the common man and woman and the everyday average citizen, "Rock the Casbah" quickly gets to the root of the issue in a narrative that is compelling and reflective.
Ciao.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: "What responsibility--if any--does the West have in influencing the spread of democracy in the Middle East?"
So Syria's President Bashir al-Assad gave an interview with the Western media today defending his response to Syria's prolonged and increasingly bloody civic uprising. He essentially said that he was doing no more than what any government leader would do--specifically the U.S.--as a means of putting down national dissent. This is rich coming from the leader of a country that has at least a half-century history of ruthlessly cracking down on anyone who dares speak out against The Establishment which now finds itself on increasingly shaky territory in a region that has been rocked by unprecedented anti-government turmoil for the last year.
Like many of us, I have followed the so-called Arab Spring with interest though I admit after the initial euphoric months in Tunisia and Egypt I haven't paid as much attention to it as perhaps I should. The civil war in Libya culminating in the death of Moammar Qadaffi was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me. It is great that the long-oppressed people in these countries were finally acting out against their oppressors, but the question that kept coming to mind was: "Okay, what now? What plan do these rebel factions have for peacefully instituting a government to replace the one they've overthrown?" It just seemed to me that violence was merely begetting more violence. I believe that while democratic reforms are necessary, I think it is unreasonable and even irresponsible to expect that a region with little to no experience with democracy can be expected to change itself overnight.
I also find the West's response to the Arab Spring interesting in and of itself. In the past week, Egypt has implemented--successfully by most accounts--the first of a three-phase wave of parliamentary elections unlike any the country has ever experienced. This is terrific. However, we must be prepared to deal with the fact that when you give the people a democratic vote, you need to accept whom they vote into office even as the new government may not necessarily fall in line with what you hope to be the final outcome. There is concern being expressed in the media that Egypt's new parliament is weighted too heavily in favor of the Islamists, with the Moslem Brotherhood and the Salafist parties taking the most seats in Egypt's new government. If this is what the Egyptian people want, who are we in the West to say that this is not acceptable? I realize that it calls into question some of the alliances and treaties the U.S. has helped to broker over the years, chiefly the Egyptian-Israeli peace accords, but perhaps it's time for the U.S. and other Western governments to take a step back and focus more on the social and economic problems plaguing our own countries before criticizing or condemning others?
In my quest to learn more about the socioeconomic and political history of the modern Middle East, I came across a recently published book by respected Middle East correspondent and Washington Post columnist Robin Wright. "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World" (Simon & Schuster, 2011) does an insightful and eminently readable job of introducing readers to the roots of the current unrest. In the book's first couple of chapters, Ms. Wright focuses on how the Arab Spring started--with the self-immolation of a young Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi after being accosted by a female Tunisian city inspector who claimed Mr. Bouazizi was operating without a license. Because he was poor, Mr. Bouazizi did not have the seven dollars needed to bribe the official to remain in business. He was humiliated, his livelihood was taken away from him, he didn't know what else to do. So he set himself on fire and this shocking image was soon spread virally through Facebook and YouTube throughout the Middle East. When people feel they do not have a voice, they understandably resort to extreme measures.
While I've only read the first three chapters of Ms. Wright's book so far, I urge everyone and anyone with an interest in learning more about the Arab Spring and its subsequent protest movements to pick up a copy of the book and get educated. By focusing on the plight of the common man and woman and the everyday average citizen, "Rock the Casbah" quickly gets to the root of the issue in a narrative that is compelling and reflective.
Ciao.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: "What responsibility--if any--does the West have in influencing the spread of democracy in the Middle East?"
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