Arab Spring
Thorvelden (Talk | contribs) (→Egypt) |
m (header) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
The '''Arab Spring''' was an eruption of mass protest in several "[[Arab]]" countries (though nobody likes to remember that there are quite a lot of [[Africa]]ns in some of them too) that drove regime changes, [[authoritarian]] government crackdowns, and sometimes a mix of both. New communications technology, manifested as social [[media]] sites like [[Facebook]] and [[Twitter]], were credited with helping protestors organize, and some contend that the spirit of protest spread to the [[United States]] and [[Europe]] via the "[[Occupy Wall Street|Occupy]]" movements. | The '''Arab Spring''' was an eruption of mass protest in several "[[Arab]]" countries (though nobody likes to remember that there are quite a lot of [[Africa]]ns in some of them too) that drove regime changes, [[authoritarian]] government crackdowns, and sometimes a mix of both. New communications technology, manifested as social [[media]] sites like [[Facebook]] and [[Twitter]], were credited with helping protestors organize, and some contend that the spirit of protest spread to the [[United States]] and [[Europe]] via the "[[Occupy Wall Street|Occupy]]" movements. | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Reception in the West === | ||
With the exception of [[Tunisia]], the [[liberal]] phase of the Arab Spring was effectively over by Spring 2012. Curiously, however, many Western liberals refused to recognize that the movements had been largely hijacked by illiberal [[Sunni]] [[Islamist]]s funded by [[conservative]] Sunni Arab [[monarchy|monarchies]].<ref>[http://open.salon.com/blog/old_new_lefty/2012/06/19/the_arab_spring_the_saudis_hijacked_it_1 The Arab Spring: The Saudis Hijacked It] June 21, 2012.</ref> Reluctance to recognize that transition is attributable to three factors. | With the exception of [[Tunisia]], the [[liberal]] phase of the Arab Spring was effectively over by Spring 2012. Curiously, however, many Western liberals refused to recognize that the movements had been largely hijacked by illiberal [[Sunni]] [[Islamist]]s funded by [[conservative]] Sunni Arab [[monarchy|monarchies]].<ref>[http://open.salon.com/blog/old_new_lefty/2012/06/19/the_arab_spring_the_saudis_hijacked_it_1 The Arab Spring: The Saudis Hijacked It] June 21, 2012.</ref> Reluctance to recognize that transition is attributable to three factors. | ||
Revision as of 19:55, 9 July 2012
The Arab Spring was an eruption of mass protest in several "Arab" countries (though nobody likes to remember that there are quite a lot of Africans in some of them too) that drove regime changes, authoritarian government crackdowns, and sometimes a mix of both. New communications technology, manifested as social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, were credited with helping protestors organize, and some contend that the spirit of protest spread to the United States and Europe via the "Occupy" movements.
Contents |
Reception in the West =
With the exception of Tunisia, the liberal phase of the Arab Spring was effectively over by Spring 2012. Curiously, however, many Western liberals refused to recognize that the movements had been largely hijacked by illiberal Sunni Islamists funded by conservative Sunni Arab monarchies.[1] Reluctance to recognize that transition is attributable to three factors.
- First - an uncritical belief in the transformative power of new communications technologies. The problem is although new communications technologies have created platforms for mass participation, much of the resulting "deliberation" has not taken the form of an open exchange of ideas supportive of liberal democracy.[2] They are more likely to result in intemperate virtual shouting matches or the isolation of the like-minded in spirals of agreement.
- Second - a measure of Western guilt about past generous support for nasty tyrannies like that of Sadat and Mubarak in Egypt is at work. Supporting revolution, even if it is reaction in disguise, serves as expiation.[citation needed]
- Third - many liberals may secretly share with conservatives a greater level of comfort with stereotypically religion crazed Middle Easterners, examples who may served up as excuses for future support for tyranny.
The result is the sort of wishful thinking that can cause even the nicest people to lose their powers of observation. The same thing happened during the 1979 Iranian revolution. Consider the following two quotes from Richard Falk in his February 10, 1979 article[3]in The Nation about that revolution:
- "So far, the Khomeini forces have displayed remarkable restraint. Despite' persistent incitement by the, Army and prouocatezcr tactics by the Savak in a large number of cities, including unprovoked attacks on peaceful crowds, atrocities against hospitals, and medical, workers and cruel violence that includes using high-technology, weaponry against children, the opposition has not resorted to' arms or violence. The main incidents of destruction of property and terrorism in recent months are generally believed, even by middle-class Iranians suspicious, of Khomeini, to be the work of Savak. The discipline im'posed by the religious leadership has so far restrained a -rising wave of anger among the people."
- "The religious core of the Khomeini movement is a call for social justice, fairness in the distribution of wealth, a productive economy organized around national needs and a simplicity of life style and absence of corruption that minimizes differences between rich and poor, rulers and ruled."
That such perceived restraint would characterize a revolutionary movement that has achieved state power is an astonishingly silly assumption.
Ideological self-deception about the Arab Spring has not been confined to liberals. Neoconservatives have been busy claiming that the 2003 U.S. Invasion of Iraq was justified by the Arab Spring.[4]
In specific countries
Tunisia
The protests began in Tunisia in late 2010 when a young fruit seller named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in front of the town hall of Sidi Bouzid to protest being beaten up by the police over not being able to pay bribes so he would be ignored while working as a peddler. Within days the protests spread throughout the country and resulted in Tunisia's dictator Ben Ali fleeing towards Saudi Arabia. The protests spread further to Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Jordan.
Elections were held in Tunisia (for the Constituent Assembly) which the Islamist Ennahda party won the election with 41% of the vote and received 90 of the 217 seats. The largest secular party - Congress for the Republic (CPR) - won 13% of the vote and recieved 30 seats. The leftist Ettakatol party won 10% of the vote, and received 21 seats.[5]
Egypt
In Egypt, which had been under martial law for many years, efforts to repress the mass protests failed, and the generals of the military took power from the dictator Hosni Mubarak, continuing to maneuver against their longtime opponents, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Nevertheless, the brethren perfomed well in the November 28, 2011 to January 11, 2012 parliamentary elections, and their presidential candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won the June 24, 2012 runoff contest on June 24, 2012.[6] However, immediately thereafter, a military appointed court simply dismissed the elected parliament.[7], effectively neutering the civil government. There have been some pessimistic speculations as to the future of liberal democracy in Egypt, given the country's mass poverty and illiteracy, as well as its dependence on such sources of funding as fees from the Suez Canal and handouts from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.[8]
Libya
Libya experienced a civil war that ended on October 23, 2011, after Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed by a crazed mob on October 20th. The Libyan rebels were supported by Western air power, under a United Nations mandate. Victory against Gaddafi left the country with a ruined infrastructure, unmarked mass graves full of the bodies of African migrants, and political chaos. The country is now, theoretically, governed by a National Transitional Government, which was formed during the country's civil war, although in reality many areas are in the control of independent militias.
Elections are expected to occur sometime in 2012. However, by June of 2012, fighting between factions was heating up in western Libya, as the revolutionary government had failed to secure its own weapons against its enemies.[9]
An often-overlooked aspect of the Libyan civil war is the rebels' killing of African migrants with impunity. In the town of Sirte there was a mass execution of migrants, and in the town of Tawergha migrants were hunted by groups of rebels, one of which proclaims itself the "brigade for the purging of black skins."[10]
Syria
In Syria, the Arab nationalist government of Bashar Assad, supported chiefly by secular Arab nationalists and religious minorities, has come under severe attack. The rebels have been given a safe haven in the border regions of Turkey, and are rumored to be furnished with arms by the CIA.[11] Assad cracked down on the rebels so brutally as to prompt the Arab League to suspend Syria,[12] but the conflict remains ongoing.
Other countries
There were also protests in Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Oman and Syria. Minor protests broke out in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the Western Sahara. Protests were ruthlessly suppressed in Bahrain.[13]
Concerns about Islamist influence
The toppled regimes were all secular, which led to concern that their removal might pave the way for an increase in Islamist influence, after the model of the Iranian Revolution under Ayatollah Khomeini. However, the initial protests were largely secular in nature, enough to dispel for those who want to believe any concern.
Although some Islamist groups did make gains in the first rounds of new elections after the protests, most were not raving loonies like the Taliban; for example, Mohammad Morsi, elected to the presidency of Egypt on the Muslim Brotherhood ticket, promptly demonstrated his hardline credentials by appointing a woman and a Coptic Christian (one each!) and making a mild speech in which he demanded such horrors as "maintaining rights of women and children and abrogating all sorts of discrimination" and "balanced relations between us and other world countries based on common interests and mutual respect and benefits to all sides."[citation needed] Ayatollah Khomeini utilized roughly the same strategy to seize power in Iran from his liberal and communist allies in the revolution, so Morsi may well be "pulling a fast one." That the Iranian government continues to use token representatives of women and religious minorities ought to taken as a lesson.
Aftermath and effect
Neoconservatives have been busy claiming that the 2003 U.S. Invasion of Iraq was justified by the Arab Spring.[14]
See also
- The Egyptian uprising, in particular
Footnotes
- ↑ The Arab Spring: The Saudis Hijacked It June 21, 2012.
- ↑ Mohammed el-Nawawy and Sahar Khamis. 2009. Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discoureses in Cyberspace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-230-33815-9; Zizi Papacharissi. "The Virtual Sphere: The Internet as a Public Sphere." Media & Society, Vol. 1, No. 9 (2002): 9-27.
- ↑ Richard Falk. "Iran's Home Grown Revolution." The Nation. February 10, 1979. Pp. 135-137.
- ↑ Neocons’ New Lie Jordan Michael Smith. Salon.com. April 25, 2012.
- ↑ Final Results of Tunisian Elections Announced
- ↑ Islamist Morsy Wins Egyptian Presidency With 52 percent Yasmine Saleh and Shaimaa Fayed. Reuters. June 24, 2012.
- ↑ A decision reaffirmed by the same court on July 9, 2012 Kareem Fahim and Mayy El Sheikh. "Egyptian Court Affirms Ruling Cited to Oust Parliament" The New York Times. July 9, 2012.
- ↑ Some Heretical Thoughts about the Facebook God, the Arab Spring, and the Egyptian Revolution Avi Isaacharoff. Haaretz. June 25, 2012
- ↑ Libya: Transitional Council Failing to Secure WeaponsHuman Rights Watch. October 25, 2011; Libya Tribal Hack and Slash Hundreds Killed and Wounded in Week RT. June 12, 2012.
- ↑ Libya: The Ongoing Disaster Dan Glazebrook. al-Ahram. May 31-June 6 2012.
- ↑ Eric Schmitt. "C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Rebels." The New York Times. June 21, 2012. A1
- ↑ Arab League Votes to Suspend Syria
- ↑ Bad Double Standards, Good Double Standards
- ↑ Neocons’ New Lie Jordan Michael Smith. Salon.com. April 25, 2012.