Showing posts with label MENA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MENA. Show all posts

Sep 26, 2012

All Politics Is Not Local In The Middle East

"All politics is local" is a common phrase in U.S. politics and it only makes sense in the context of the United States and some European countries. When it comes to the Middle Eastern politics, this phrase withers away and becomes meaningless.

Probably, nowhere is more diverse and tourist-centered with restaurants and foods from around the world than New York City, specifically Times Square. People from different part of the world like Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Europe have their businesses and street markets. They keep the city clean, civilized, and always do their best to please their customers.

Now, imagine New York City in terms of culture, religion and races, but when it comes to voting, and paying taxes, these differences do not matter. What is important to the citizens of New York City is raising taxes, the job market, education, Wall Street, health care, and many other minor issues on an individual level. At this point, candidates knock on the doors of new-yorkers, and where local politics matter more than anything else. At this level, democracy rings true, candidates or leaders begin to know their people, understand their problems, and listen to them, and people also start knowing their leaders. This is how a democratic society should work and it works in the United States very well. There is only one reason that makes people care about politics: their taxes. The politics of U.S. taxes influence local taxes first, then national politics and then international politics.

Now, why are all politics not local in the Middle East and North Africa?
First, most countries in the Middle East are not democratic; leaders do not have a strong connection with their people. Six countries in the Middle East are under absolute monarchy. Those are: the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Jordan, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In North Africa, Morocco is the only monarchy. The rest of the countries like Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Iran have despotic rulers which if are not worse than monarchy are not better either. In monarchy and despotic systems, people’s voices are not heard and their votes do not matter.

Second, in several countries in the Middle East people do not pay taxes. If citizens of a country do not pay taxes, they feel less responsibility towards their governments. They restrict the freedom of their citizens; they forbid women from driving or appearing in the public without male companions, like in Saudi Arabia. The government instead of collecting taxes gives money to its citizens. This makes the citizens more willing to let their governments do whatever they want to do.

Therefore, all politics is not local in the Middle East because of these disparities among governments and their citizens. Citizens in the Middle East unfortunately live with the absence of democracy and freedom. They are oppressed and suppressed by tyrannical regimes. In conclusion, the Middle East contrast that all politics is not local, yet it matters in the United States.

May 1, 2011

Saudi Bloggers Face Stringent Restrictions

In a country like Saudi Arabia in which media is controlled by the Kingdom, blogs have become an alternative source of news and opinion in recent years. Saudi is ranked second in the Arab world for having the most bloggers, trailing only behind Egypt. According to BBC, the number of Saudi bloggers (both male and female) was between 500-600 in both English and Arabic.

Like many other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia is restrictive in its blogosphere. In 2008, Fouad Al-Farhan, a well-known blogger was arrested for his criticism of the government’s corruption and his call for political reform. In 2011, in the wake of uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi government enacted stringent new regulations forcing bloggers to register and obtain government licenses in order to publish online. According to this law, all Saudi news blogs and electronic news sites now must be strictly licensed, and are required to “include the call to the religion of Islam” and to strictly abide by Islamic sharia law.

Human rights activists and bloggers have reacted to government’s decision on limiting freedom of expression. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) is already concerned about the new regulation, which was issued at the beginning of 2011. The CJP has voiced its concerned and has asked the Saudi government to listen to its bloggers and respect their freedom of speech.

Apr 20, 2011

Young Israelis and Palestinians Debate

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Here in a program directed by Riz khan on Al Jazeera, young Palestinians and Israelis face off in a debate about their past, present and future. What do they think about their leaders, and do they think they will see peace in their lifetime?

It seems that to Israeli youth the pain of Palestinians are not quite understandable. Palestinians have suffered from multiple losses, including losses of territories and also human beings since the formation of Israel in 1948. On the other side, Palestinian youth are complaining about the way they are treated by the Israeli soldiers and settlers. Rez khan has done a great job bringing these youth from both sides together to talk about their issues. Without a doubt, this kind of debate would have impact on both sides and would be important to pave the way towards negotiation and peace. What these young people hope to achieve is peace for both sides. Both have shared pains, but the new generation should take initiatives towards peace.

Apr 11, 2011

Daunting News: Egyptian Blogger Sentenced to 3 Years Jail

Daunting news from Egypt in post-mubarakism surprised the world by jailing a blogger for three years. It shocked people because even in the Mubarak era, jailing bloggers was not as common as these last two months after Mubarak was forced to leave the power.

The only and the first case during Mubarak was Kareem Amir who was sentenced to 4 years in jail because of allegedly insulting Islam and Husni Mubarak. According to BBC, Maikel Nabil was arrested last month for blog posts where he criticized the role of the Egyptian Army during anti-government uprising. Based AFP, a military court sentenced him to three years in prison.

The Maikel Nabil case harks back to Mubarak era; it seems the Army is still remaining in its authoritarian nature and it would likely be hard to expect changes in institutions like the military. It clearly tells us that Egyptian Army does not tolerate criticism and it raises lots of unanswered questions about whether people’s efforts would finally succeed to a democratic society or not, was it worth it to sacrifice and how much power people have to change the governmental institutions. Anyway, the Maikel Nabil case is shocking and it makes the world look at post-mubarakism with doubt. Those who understand the nature of the Egyptian authoritarian regime which was headed by Husni Mubarak over the past 30 years will understand the nature of the Egyptian military and its court sentence for an internet activist and blogger of three years imprisonment.

We should not forget that it was Egyptian bloggers who were at the forefront of uprising since the beginning of uprising. I shall later write a separate piece more specifically on the role of blogging in the Egyptian revolution. It was the famous blogger, Khaled Said who was dragged from a cybercafe out into the street and beaten by police which led to his death. His death on June 12, 2010, outraged Alexandria’s residents and ultimately inspired many to stand up against Egyptian authoritarian regime which was headed by Husni Mubarak. Once again, even today, when in the case of Maikel Nabil proved that blogs continue to play an important role among traditional media, which is controlled by the state, but ultimately the uprising was caused by the bloggers who had relative freedom but not without intimidation and serious threat to their lives.

Mar 7, 2011

The Middle East Doesn't mean Israel or Palestine anymore

The recent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and seemingly sweeping across the entire Middle East have definitely shocked the world. No one was expecting such cataclysmic movements one after another. However, these uprisings also give a new picture of the Middle East to the world, especially to Western countries - a new picture that encourages people in the West to no longer see the Middle East as Israel or Palestine, but as an original Middle East, a larger area with relatively cohesive and in some part homogeneous people living with the same culture and religion.

Young Middle Easterners have proven that they can change their fate and shape it to their wills. These people no longer tolerate living under tyrannical regimes, and the most important things we have sees in these uprisings are the demands of freedom. In these uprisings, hundreds, maybe thousands of people have been killed so far; nonetheless, as the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt triumphed in striving for democracy and freedom, they proved that no one can take away people’s freedom, even if you can kill a few of them.

Returning back to the subject, for the past decades, the only thing we have been hearing and reading about the Middle East was the conflict between Israel and Palestine. In many institution of higher education there are branches specifically teaching students about Israel and Palestine conflict. From now on, this could change; scholars would suggest studying a broader perspective of the Middle East.

Feb 24, 2011

Why Egypt is so important to Afghanistan?

I have been following the Egyptian uprising closely, and besides blogging I have been tweeting constantly. One would ask why I am so curious and care about Egyptian events, which have seemingly nothing to do with my country.

Well, the answer can be anything, particularly including the fact that Egypt is influential on regional level and, more importantly, in Muslim world. It is not clear yet whether these upheavals will put Egypt in a crisis or lead to a prosperous situation However, in any case, changes in Egypt will impact the Muslim world in general and Afghanistan in particular.

According to the BBC, since the 1950s, Afghanistan and Egypt have had a long cultural relationship; there has been a formal educational exchange contract between the countries. Since that time, thousands of Afghan students have been sent to Al Azhar University to learn religious subjects.

The most obvious impact of Egypt is the birth of the Afghan Muslim Brotherhood party, which was founded by those students who had studied in Egypt in 1950s. They were inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Today, there are more than 250 Afghan students at Al Azhar University. Ironically, the Afghan government did not pull out these students during Egyptian uprising, though every other foreigner from around the world was pulled out by their governments.

More importantly, the Afghanistan constitution is mostly based on the Egyptian constitution and Egyptian thinkers have been very influential among Afghans. Finally, the most striking impact of Egyptian upheavals on Afghanistan would be the weakening of Islamic fundamentalism because it originated in Egypt and it would fade there. Afghanistan has not been the source of any Islamic fundamentalism movements, but of course it has been a place in which extreme movements could easily grow and wrack and ruin the country very easily.