[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] Bush's vision of Arab Democracy vs. 2 reports

** Mailing-List Indonesia Nasional Milis PPI-India www.ppi-india.da.ru **

http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=3DLandau&otherweek=3D11135=
41200

Bush's vision of Arab Democracy vs. 2 reports



By Saul Landau and Farrah Hassen



Two new reports on economics ("Arab World Competitiveness Report 2005") and=
 politics ("Towards Freedom in the Arab World," launched in Amman, Jordan o=
n April 5, 2005) in the Arab states dramatized what all astute observers al=
ready knew: the Arab region is a mess and U.S. policies have exacerbated th=
e situation.



"The Arab world is facing a population time bomb and urgently needs to refo=
rm governments, education systems and cultural rules that keep women out of=
 the workforce." wrote Al Jazeera (April 2), summing up the findings of the=
 "Arab World Competitiveness Report 2005," issued by the World Economic For=
um at an April 2, 2005 conference in Doha, Qatar.



The "Competitiveness Report" acknowledged the viability of oil-rich mini st=
ates like Qatar, but over the next decade other Arab nations had "to create=
 80 million jobs" to address the growing pool of future jobseekers. Mustafa=
 Nabil, chief World Bank economist for the Middle East, cited Arab leaders'=
 "resistance to change" as one impediment to instituting wide-reaching refo=
rms.

The 2004 Arab Human Development Report (AHDR), "Towards Freedom in the Arab=
 World," also echoed Nabil's sentiments on the "authoritarian nature" of Ar=
ab leaders but drew Washington's ire by censuring the US role in both Iraq =
and Israel-Palestine.



Washington's ensuing displeasure held up the report's original October 2004=
 release date and prompted UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown's subseque=
nt disclaimer that "In the case of this year's report.some of the views exp=
ressed by the authors are not shared by the UNDP or the UN" (Foreword, "Tow=
ards Freedom in the Arab World").=20



Lead author Nader Fergany claimed that the Bush administration responded to=
 the critical language by threatening to slash some of its $100 million con=
tribution to the UNDP (December 23, 2004 Courier-Mail). The UNDP denied any=
 such threat. But the story leaked to the media and Arab intellectuals unde=
rstood Washington's "free speech lesson."



Bush had already made clear his disdain for the UN by invading Iraq in 2003=
, virtually destroying the legitimacy of the Security Council, which had re=
fused to authorize military action. He poked the UN in its eye again by nom=
inating Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton as Washington'=
s UN representative.



"There's no such thing as the United Nations," Bolton had declared at the 1=
994 Global Structures Convocation in New York, adding, "The Secretariat bui=
lding in New York has 38 stories. If it lost ten stories, it wouldn't make =
a bit of difference." Bush circles rely on the U.S. public to forget that i=
n 1945 U.S. money and staff created this world body.



The Bushies, however, don't hesitate to use UN documents that coincide with=
 their policies. They praised the 2002 and 2003 Arab Human Development Repo=
rts, which emphasized the absence of freedom in Arab states, points White H=
ouse officials used to back their own "democratic" plans to remake the Midd=
le East.



But the authors of the 2004 AHDR violated taboos by criticizing Israel, whi=
ch "has continued its violations of individual and collective freedoms of P=
alestinians" (p. 6), and Bush's decision to invade and occupy Iraq, where "=
.the Iraqi people have emerged from the grip of a despotic regime.only to f=
all under a foreign occupation that increased human suffering" (pg. 7). Bot=
h policies have "adversely influenced Arab human development" (p. 6), the a=
uthors concluded.

Such judgments by leading independent Arab scholars who drafted the latest =
report reflect deep pessimism. Absence of freedom pervades the region, part=
icularly in the oil-rich Gulf States like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, they not=
ed.



The 2004 AHDR also focuses on Washington's hypocrisy in including its allie=
s like Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, as "democratic." These governmen=
ts would not pass rudimentary democratic tests, argued the authors.



Bush backers, however, deny reality on several fronts. First, the tyrannica=
l regimes that they call allies will not redistribute power or wealth. Seco=
nd, and more damaging to Bush's freedom indicator, elections, is that the A=
rabs interviewed by the AHDR team want "liberation from foreign occupation =
and the freedoms of opinion, expression and movement" (pg. 97). Such facts =
don't bother "democracy pushers."=20



"We are at the dawn of a glorious, delicate, revolutionary moment in the Mi=
ddle East," wrote columnist Charles Krauthammer. "It was triggered by the i=
nvasion of Iraq, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and televised images of 8 =
million Iraqis voting in a free election."(March 4, 2005, Washington Post).



Awada Dakil, an Iraqi Shia, offers a stark contrast to Krauthammer's frothy=
 enthusiasm. "Nothing has changed," he said. "The only difference is that w=
e were once ruled by a dictator and now we are ruled by clowns" (Telegraph,=
 March 30, 2005).



Dakil more accurately measures the pulse on the Arab streets, where average=
 unemployment hovers around 15 percent (Al Jazeera, "Experts: Arab Economie=
s Lag Behind," April 3, 2005). "32 million people suffer from malnutrition,=
" noted the latest AHDR, after studying 15 Arab countries (pg. 10). Daily d=
evastation sweeps Iraq and Afghanistan, while Lebanon faces possible civil =
war, ignited by the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Ministe=
r Rafik Hariri.=20



Bush's religious dogma, however, negates reasonable discussion about facts =
in the region. Shortly after U.S. troops invaded Iraq, then Commerce Secret=
ary Don Evans said that "Bush believes he was called by God to lead the nat=
ion at this time" (Judy Keen, USA Today April 2, 2003).=20



On March 2, 2005, the President told an audience at Maryland's Anne Arundel=
 Community College: "I look forward to continuing to work with friends and =
allies to advance freedom - not America's freedom, but universal freedom, f=
reedom granted by a Higher Being" (March 5, 2005, Arab News). "The Seed of =
Chucky in the White House," as one Arab-American dubbed him, shows no inter=
est in the underlying issues of the region.



Since 9/11, reports Al Jazeera (April 2, 2005), wealthy Arab investors have=
 withdrawn their U.S. investments and have instead poured money into region=
al real estate. This activity creates temporary construction jobs but hardl=
y fuels an export-based economy or attracts large scale foreign capital. In=
deed, real economic reformers would have to circumvent the current over-blo=
ated bureaucracies, which exist without accountability, transparency or the=
 rule of law and which make institutionalizing long-range reforms impossibl=
e.



Nonetheless, President Bush's simplistic reform formula calls for "privatiz=
ation" to solve the Middle East's economic woes, which sounds like a joke i=
n a region where vast oil profits have not trickled down to the pockets of =
the average citizen. For much of the Arab world, privatization has really m=
eant theft of public property.=20



Additionally, Bush links addressing Middle Eastern poverty with free trade.=
 "Across the globe, free markets and trade have helped defeat poverty, and =
taught men and women the habits of liberty," he declared. "So I propose the=
 establishment of a U.S.-Middle East free trade area within a decade, to br=
ing the Middle East into an expanding circle of opportunity, to provide hop=
e for the people who live in that region" (May 9, 2003).



More enlightened 21st Century imperialists might offer the Middle East a bo=
rn again version of the Marshall Plan combined with a revitalized Alliance =
for Progress, a massive investment plan for industry and infrastructure alo=
ng with education reforms to bring literacy and socioeconomic development t=
o the Arab masses - the groundwork for democracy. The "Competitiveness Repo=
rt" concludes that the Arab world needs such a boost, not empty slogans lik=
e "democracy," which translates in Iraq and Afghanistan as an exclusive gro=
up of U.S. approved candidates running in U.S. organized elections.



Conversely, the President, who maintains a supermodel's appetite for readin=
g, has no recognition of history that most Arabs possess. In the mosques an=
d streets, the past intersects the present as a dynamic anchor of daily lif=
e. Ancient religious sites and long-standing traditions co-exist with the u=
biquitous cell phones and gas-guzzling vehicles. In Ma'aloula, near Damascu=
s, people still speak Aramaic, the language of Christ.=20



Ultimately, Arabs have solid reasons to suspect the West's renewed democrac=
y rap. France and England colonized and looted the region after World War I=
. Indeed, Iraqis recall that when they rebelled against British occupation =
in the early 1920s, London dropped poison gas on them. Syrian memory retain=
s France's ruthless suppression of their resistance to occupation in 1925-2=
7 and again in 1945. Washington's fervent defense of the thirty-eight year =
old Israeli occupation of Palestine also informs them of its one-sided inte=
rpretation of "democracy."=20



When brilliant scholars write reports on critical regions, governments shou=
ld use them as primary intelligence documents from which to derive sound po=
licies. But Bush has drawn "vision" exclusively from sycophants and opportu=
nists who agree with his ethereal assumptions. Instead of relying on yes me=
n and dissemblers, CIA analysts would benefit from reading poets.



"Like mussels we sit in caf=E9s,

one hunts for a business venture

one for another billion

a fourth wife

breasts polished by civilization.

One stalks London for a lofty mansion

one traffics in arms

one seeks revenge in nightclubs

one plots for a throne, a private army,

 a princedom.

Ah generation of betrayal,

of surrogate, indecent men,

generation of leftovers, we'll be swept away-

never mind the slow pace of history-

by children bearing rocks."=20

--Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998), "Children Bearing Rocks"





Saul Landau is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and directs dig=
ital studies at Cal Poly Pomona University's College of Letters, Arts and S=
ocial Sciences.

Farrah Hassen was the Associate Producer of the film, "SYRIA: BETWEEN IRAQ =
AND A HARD PLACE," with Landau. She worked for the United Nations Developme=
nt Program office in Syria during the Fall 2004.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->=20
DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources=20
often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/5F6XtA/.WnJAA/E2hLAA/BRUplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->=20

***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg=
 Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. www.ppi-india.org
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:

1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Lihat arsip sebelumnya, www.ppi-india.da.ru;=20
4. Satu email perhari: ppiindia-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
5. No-email/web only: ppiindia-nomail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
6. kembali menerima email: ppiindia-normal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
=20
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ppiindia-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
=20



** Mailing-List Indonesia Nasional Milis PPI-India www.ppi-india.uni.cc **

Other related posts: