http://www.bangladesh-web.com/news/nov/15/d15112003.htm#A1
November 15, 2003
Freedom and
Democracy
in the Arab World
Masud Sohail
Twenty years from now, President Bush’s November 6 speech at the
National Endowment for Democracy may well be remembered as the
inspired words of a true a visionary. Never before had an American
President so eloquently and directly addressed the core failing of
the Arab world as a whole: the deficit of freedom and the
non-existence of individual liberty. Despite the fact that many of
the region’s absolute monarchies are American allies, America’s
moral stance in the region is now clear and unambiguous- in the
President’s own words "Stability can not be purchased at the price
of Liberty".
The
argument that the liberty is a foreign concept and has no place in
the Arab world is laughable- I have never met a man or woman who
does not want the ability and opportunity to determine his or her
own destiny. The line that the Arab people have no culture of
democracy and are thus unfit for it is elitist, condescending, and
bluntly put, derogatory to this great nation. True progress and
prosperity have always been achieved by setting free the creative
talents of free men and women- the illusion of prosperity through
drilling oil wells in the desert can at best be a passing
phenomenon. Natural resources are finite; the ability and courage
of free people are not.
The
war in Iraq has indeed provided the US with an unparalleled
opportunity to show the world that democracy can and will take
root in the Arab world. This was a nation that possessed a
well-developed infrastructure, the most educated and progressive
people in the Arab world, a per capita income that rivaled that of
the newly industrialized countries in 1980. Saddam Hussein came to
power promising the people a return to the old glories of Babylon
and Mesopotamia.
Yet
in 20 odd years of rule, he managed to convert Iraq into a
destitute nation devoid of all forms of liberty and shunned by the
rest of the world. The startling fact that a full 4 million of
Iraq’s 20 million people were living abroad or in exile bears
testament to the brutality and sheer devastation of his rule. By
the time the coalition forces liberated Baghdad, most of the
people depended on the UN for even the most basic necessities of
life. Such was the situation that faced the coalition 6 months
ago.
The
struggle in which the US is now involved is one of the most
idealistic ever undertaken in the history of the world (that is,
unless you believe that the Americans are stealing Iraqi oil by
directly piping it to the US or that Israel instructed America to
take out Saddam).
The
desire to bring human dignity and liberty to a land that has
suffered so much is a highly commendable goal. The conditions
facing the US can barely be more hostile- an insurgency backed by
defeated Baathist elements and foreign religious fanatics,
hostility from Iraq’s neighbors, a populace brutalized beyond
imagination for 20 years, a complete lack of any form of civil
society or democratic institutions- and of course being a sapling
of democracy in a forest of totalitarianism.
Yet, slowly but surely, Iraq is carving out a path to freedom. All
the attacks by the terrorists have not been able to slow the
Iraqis’ inexorable path to democratic self-governance. The Iraqi
Governing Council has recently reiterated its commitment to
selecting a convention for drafting a Constitution by the end of
this year.
And
once a constitution is completed, the blueprint for building all
the elements of a functioning democracy will be in place.
Elections are essential in a democracy but not sufficient by
themselves; they are the last step in a chain that includes strong
legal protections for personal freedoms, a vigorous free press, a
functioning civil society, a thriving middle class and an honest
administration that is responsive to people’s needs and desires.
The people of Iraq are moving in that direction despite all that
the terrorists throw at them.
Democracy in Iraq, a goal as noble as any, should not be seen as
an end in itself but as a beginning- a new dawn for establishing
freedom in the Arab world. America’s friends in the region must be
persuaded to lead their people to a new era of prosperity and
freedom. Monarchs in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar are already
leading their people in that direction, embracing change when the
status quo would have been much easier.
Yet
true change in the Arab world will only come when the winds of
freedom reach Saudi Arabia- its spiritual center- and Egypt- its
intellectual capital. The establishment of a free and prosperous
Iraq will add unstoppable momentum to the pent up forces of
democratic change in the region.
Although President Bush’s words of establishing democracies in the
Arab world sound far fetched today, I recall another visionary who
speaking at Westminster Palace in 1982 said that the communist
system had failed. That man, of course, was Ronald Reagan, and
many at that time derided him for his absolutist and simplistic
views. Yet, after all is said and done, the spread of democracy
and freedom in the Arab world is in the hands of the Arab people
themselves.
Well meaning outsiders may help, as in the case of Iraq, but
ultimately, peoples’ destinies will be what they make it
themselves. I have always been a firm believer in the virtues of
democracy for people all over the world. Yet nobody could make the
case for democracy better than the incomparable Winston Churchill:
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in
this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is
perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is
the worst form of government except all those other forms that
have been tried from time to time."
Masud Sohail
writes from Vancouver, Canada, His E Mail :[email protected]
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