Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon: seeds of democracy blooming in Mid-East

Anti-government protesters take part in a demonstration in Cairo on 25 January. Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters, courtesey guardian.co.uk

I’m sure many of you have heard about the recent political strife currently shaking the very foundations of government in the Arab world. However, I’m also aware that many people (mostly Americans) have not heard or know much about the current situation. And, even if they have heard, they most likely do not understand the extent of the current political — I may even call it revolutionary — climate in the Middle East.

This first thing that many Americans do not understand, or grasp, about the people who live in the many countries that lay along the Eastern bank of the Mediterranean is that — religion (and it’s a big one), culture and location aside — they’re just like us. People everywhere, no matter how you were raised, where you were born or what you were told you couldn’t do, have, or through certain experiences, find one concept in common: that of freedom and self-determination. It is something that all men (and women, of course) yearn for. It is the same motivation that caused a group of emigrants to leave England more than 250 years ago and start a new way of life in a faraway land. It is the same ideal that caused French peasants to demand of their corrupt aristocracy that they, yes, even peasants, be treated as equals. And it is the same seed of an idea that, after those emigrants had lost sight of their own beginnings, caused a slave to run away from his master in search of a — in most cases harder yet — better life. Because most Americans were born and have grown up with what most of the people of the world lack, we (yes, even myself) take that incredible gift for granted as a God-given right. And, though it may be given by God, that certainly does not stop men from constantly and consistently taking it away.

Another thing that many people do not understand is the area itself. Many see the place we now almost refer to with disdain as the Middle East as an ancient land with a repressive native religion, contempt for technology and progress and a history of suppression and subjugation of women. However, many people (and I largely put Americans in this group again largely because our government/education system has sheltered us from much of the truth) don’t realize that the early Muslim empires dominated the Levant for more than five centuries and were seen as a center of culture and science because of technological advances in chemistry, engineering and more. What people don’t realize is that during the 1950s and on many Middle Eastern countries were becoming more and more accepting of women as full citizens and the idea of social progress. What people don’t know is that, despite many Middle Eastern countries only gaining full independence from British or U.S. influence during the 40s, there were a couple countries (Iran being one of them) that seemed on the brink of Democracy. Of course all progress ended when, unable to watch the Arab countries move towards self-determination because of Western oil interests in the area, the United States and Britain stepped in and set up puppet governments, which inevitably had to resort to violence and suppression to maintain power. All of these events would lead to later events such as the Islamic revolution in Iran that ended with a decidedly and vehement anti-Western sentiment in the region.

Egyptian demonstrators protest near Egyptian police (R) to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and calling for reforms on January 25, 2011. The protesters, carrying flags and chanting slogans against the government, rallied in a protest inspired by the uprising in Tunisia which led to the ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Courtesy: Washington Post

So, the running-out of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the anti-Mubarak protests in Egypt and unrest in Yemen, Jordan and Lebanon could be the start to a very exciting chain events that could see — for the first time in the last 50 years — truly democratic government in the region. And, yes, they might be slightly, if not more, Nationalistic and anti-U.S. at least at the outset. But, to tell you the truth, they deserve to be because the United States has — contrary to our pro-democracy talk and our idealistic fervor — been the enemy of true democracy in the Mid-East since we’ve had the ability to exert influence in the area. And why might you ask yourself? It’s obvious: because like everyone else out there, we’re looking out for number one. But if we would let go for a change (and we have, so far), I think we could see the start of something very beautiful.

It just seems that in all of these countries conditions kept getting worse and worse for the largest parts of the population. On Friday, Talal Salman, the editor of Al Safir, an Arabic newspaper was quoted as saying: “The experience of Tunisia will remain the guiding light for Egypt and may be so for people in Yemen, Sudan and the rest of the Arab world looking for change, with a readiness to accept risk, especially given that even the worst possibilities are better than the status quo.” And Fadel Shallak, a Lebanese writer and a former government minister was quoted in the same New York Times article: “After so many years of political stagnation, we were left with choices between the bad and the worse,” he said. “Now there’s something happening in the Arab world. A collective voice is being heard again.”

And this same attitude of desperation has been echoed by the people of Tunisia and Egypt in their protests. They are standing up to say, “We won’t take it any more!” And while desperation is sometimes quite unpredictable, it is also a necessary ingredient of a true revolution, a true “turning of views.” Laith Shbillat, a resident of Jordan and supporter of change may have said it best when referencing poet Abu Al-Qasim Al-Shabi. He said, “If one day, a people desires to live, then fate will answer their call,” quoting the famous poet. “And their night will then begin to fade, and their chains break and fall.” Call it revolution, call it whatever you want but the Arabic people desire to live, and their call will be answered.

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