In The Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
LOW “DEMOCRATIC TSUNAMI WAVES” ENTER
INTO ARAB WORLD
[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York]
Arab world is in turmoil since the
end of First World War in 1918 and the division of Ottoman Caliphate into
“artificial” five Protectorates under the joint “conspiracy” hatched by French
and British: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon,
Jordan and Palestine. The House of Saud
was “recognized” to administer the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia as its
despotic rulers. The Emirates of Kuwait, Bahrain,
Muscat and
other tiny UAE states were created by the British to serve their colonial
interests better under its “patronage.” Later on, the monarchies of Syria and Iraq
were overthrown by dictatorial Bathist regimes;
Palestine was “handed-over” to Bani-Israel through
British-American-Russian conspiracies; Lebanon was left to the anarchy of
Marionette-Christians, Druze-Shiia and Sunni tribes,
fighting together intermittently till Saudi Arabia negotiated a truce 15 years
ago and late Rafik Hariri
became its Prime Minister allowing Syria to stay in Lebanon with its 35,000
army to be withdrawn subsequently in gradual phases to maintain peace and order
in the area.
During the last fifty years the
Arab world, from the waters of Persian Gulf to the coast of Morocco earned
freedom from European Colonial power’s subjugation but soon slipped away into
despotic monarchies or military dictatorships. Any attempts to restore people’s
rights of franchise or democratic process in any of these countries were
thwarted by the established undemocratic regimes of these Arab countries and
the Euro-American countries, unfortunately, in spite of their wild “claim” of
standing for democracy and human rights kept mum. Rather, they provided helping
hands to the massacre of the people and their democratic efforts in these
lands. The recent history of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Saudi
Arabia is telling its sordid tale how its freedom-fighters were put to gallows
and butchered by their respective undemocratic regimes under the tacit approval
of the so-called “champions” of democracy like President Bush, President Chirac
and PM Blair. They are the ruthless “murderers” of democracy and its growth in
the Muslim world. Posterity will give its harshest verdict against these
“democracy-clad- hypocrites” of the twenty-first century.
The current slow and steady flow
of democratic trends and changes creeping in the Muslim world in the wake of the
mightiest Tsunami waves of December 2004 that meaningfully “spared” the Arab
world from its menacing path have now plunged into its political firmament with
“hopes” for future. It is not sudden and spontaneous as being claimed by
President Bush. In fact, its undercurrent waves were there moving and agitating
the minds and hearts of the Arab intelligentsia and Muslim youth but living
under the totalitarian regimes of the Arab world like “sleeping” cells. It is
human nature that it cannot tolerate “oppression’ [Zulm]
for long as the Creator and Sustainer of this cosmos abhors “Fasad” [transgression] in any form for considerable long
time. The forces of cause and effect burst up producing counter mass movements
everywhere out of the womb of “disgusting” undemocratic stalemate. The recent
development of world events confirms this natural trend.
Seventy years of constant
oppression in Russia was overthrown by its own President Mikhail Gorbachev in the name of “perestroika” in
1990; Kamalist dictatorship in Turkey is being put to
an end through its own military “fathers” to meet their extreme urge to be the
member of EU; the USA in its own interest gave “free” protection to Kurdish to
build an autonomous identity in the north of Iraq – the preamble towards the emergence
of an independent Kurdish State and a balancing force in new Iraq; growing
signs of “Pan-Shiism” from the Eastern part of Saudi
Arabia to Gulf States and from Kuwait to Syria and Lebanon, is the “third”
challenging force to Arab dictatorial regimes in the region: the cumulative
effect of all these factors are the emerging natural signs of progressive
democratic trends and milestones towards a positive change in the Arab world..
They will cast their shadow on the political developments in lands from Casablanca to the waters of Tigris.
It tantamount like the silent “low waves” of an impending Tsunami storm that is
going to generate and unfold political process more and more open in the Arab
world.
President Bush actually wants to
“fish” in the troubled waters of Euphrates and Tigris that is created by his
own unimaginative war thrust on Iraq.
Actually, the presence of existing 14,000 Syrian army in Lebanon is a “menace” to the security of Israel. As
such, the USA is
“forcefully” demanding Syrians to withdraw its army from Lebanon and thus, “disrupting” the support that
Hezbollah is getting from Syria
and Iran.
The declaration of 74 years old Hassni Mubarak of Egypt to have multiparty system in the
forthcoming presidential elections in June 2005 is the recognition of his
agitated people’s demand for change. Municipal elections in SA were long
overdue committed by the Royal Saudi family. Elections in Palestine were inevitable after the death of
its father Yasir Arafat. So is the case with Bahrain and Kuwait
where the undercurrent for democratic process was bursting up long before the
war in Iraq. The Al-Jazzira TV
station has played a wonderful role in bringing the echo of “change for
democracy” in every Arab house. President Bush now wants to “capitalize” these
trends and natural urges of Arabs for his propagation for democracy through
which he is only planning to establish his puppet regimes in Iraq and Lebanon, if possible, and coerce
other Arab dictators to toe down his lines in the region.
In fact the Arab world could no
longer afford to ignore the democratic trends in their respective countries.
Credit for the democratic opening goes to the oppressed Arab people, youth and
the intelligentsia, not to Whitehouse or Pentagon who never bothered to restore
democracy in these lands by withdrawing their illicit support to the despotic
regimes and rulers of Arab countries. This way, in fact, the USA has delayed
the process of democratization. Had its influence and “support” not been there,
Arab world could get its democratic process introduced in the body politics of
their respective country much earlier. In the wake of mighty waves of Tsunami
these “low” waves of democratic trends in Arab world are the most welcome signs
and we greet them with open arms. I fear the USA may not disturb and delay this
democratic process if it does not withdraw its infamous support to the illegal
undemocratic regimes of the Muslim world including that of the Arab countries.
Hope, President Bush does not “burn” his fingers again as he did in his first
term.
Shamim A Siddiqi
March 7, 2005