Opinion Editorials, November 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
Good rhetoric and goals need good follow-up policies
The Daily Star
11/8/03
President George W. Bush’s speech at the National Endowment for Democracy
Thursday calling for democracy and freedom as the norms of a new Middle
East is a breath of fresh air from American quarters more known recently
for lobbing threats and bombs at us. We welcome this American initiative,
and look forward to seeing the promise of the rhetoric followed by policy
changes on the ground. Such an initiative can prove to be a great stimulus
to enlightened change and modernization in this region, leading to better
lives for all citizens, more prosperity and stability, and more peaceful
relations with the rest of the world.
Conversely, if this turns out to be another case of Western leaders playing on the emotions of angry Middle Easterners primarily for the purpose of expedient self-indulgence by the US or others, it is likely to exacerbate violence and tensions locally and with the US. The outcome will be determined by how seriously the US works with the Arabs, Iranians and others to promote credible democracy and good governance.
The presidential speech was noteworthy for several reasons. It rightly acknowledged the West’s responsibility for the prevalence of autocracy as the Middle Eastern norm, admitting that the West’s focus on security, at the expense of liberty and democracy, led to the current collection of often dysfunctional, always non-democratic states in this area. Such recognition of one’s own role in the larger problem to be resolved is a healthy starting point, and Bush did well to state the fact.
The president also rightly acknowledged that autocracy in the Middle East was not a function of culture or religion, but of policies designed by incumbent governments and rulers who were not held accountable. This is a refreshing shift in the frequent rhetoric in some parts of the West, and many places in the US, that despairs of seeing democracy in Islamic societies.
It was also refreshing to hear the American president specifically mention a few countries that have some way to go in improving their governance systems, but that also have great potential to lead the whole region out of its autocratic ways. Saudi Arabia and Egypt were mentioned by name; we could mention a dozen others in a single breath. The point is that nobody around here is blameless in the great accounting that must take place one day when the citizens of this region will demand to know why they had to suffer such ignominious governance systems for so many decades and then they will demand better governance, and better leaders, and they deserve both.
The danger is that this ringing American rhetoric will prove to be only ringing American rhetoric, and that Middle Easterners dubious of Washington’s intentions might refuse to even consider working with it for the stated goal of a democratic region. That would be a shame if the US is serious and works with this region for democracy, using consistent and legitimate means devised by the people of the Middle East themselves.
So three important factors will need to be monitored if the American call for a democratic Middle East is translated into reality. The first is the fact of implementation: how seriously words become action. The second is the manner of implementation: how earnestly the people of the region work with friends abroad to foster democratic governance that is credible, pertinent, realistic, and effective. The third is the scope of implementation: how widely or narrowly across the region democratic values extend. We should not rule out the seriousness of this dynamic, but rather should explore every means to define it intelligently and make it happen.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |
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