Pro-Democratic and Anti-American
This CSM article makes the valid point that most of the reformers in the Middle East don’t like US policies and want to distance themselves from the US generally. It highlights the probable continuing antagonism toward the US after democratization. The article fails to mention the long term positive effects of democracy that are in the US’s and the world’s interests: economic development, social growth, intellectual freedom, political stability, and international integration.
Kifaya has become the name of a movement and the buzzword of what some Western commentators are calling the “Arab Spring” - the rise of democratic expression around the region. In rallies from tiny Bahrain to Egypt, demonstrators are shouting kifaya to dictators, kifaya to corruptions, and kifaya to the silence of Arabs eager for change.There’s no question that the freedom rhetoric of the US and President Bush has helped crack the door for political activism in the Middle East. A look behind the slogan, however, reveals a complex web of secular and Islamist activists who say they share Bush’s zeal for democracy, but expect real political change will lead to a repudiation of the US.——
In Bahrain last week, the largest protests in memory saw the country’s politically disenfranchised Shiite majority saying enough to pro-American King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa’s policies. And in Cairo Wednesday the chants included “Enough to Mubarak, Enough to Bush, Enough to Blair,” along with “We will not be ruled by the CIA” and “Down with the White House.”
It was a reminder that while the US has contributed to the shift in climate in the Middle East, a real democratic opening, in the short term at least, may not serve US interests. Most in the region appear angry at America’s close relationship with Israel and its invasion of Iraq, and say that statements prodding allies to reform haven’t overcome decades of support for Arab dictators.—–
But for Ms. Shabaan and most of her colleagues in the movement, “enough” doesn’t apply to President Mubarak alone. She expects a democratic Egypt would distance itself from the US, a long-time ally, and hit out at what she calls decades of “hypocritical” US policy in the Middle East.
“If things really change here, America’s illusions that its interests in the region would be advanced by democracy will be laid bare,” she says. “A real democratic government in Egypt would be strongly against the US occupation of Iraq and regional US policies, particularly over Palestine. We are strongly against US influence.”
Despite apparently genuine sentiment, Kifaya organizers say there’s also practical reasons to make the distance from the US clear. The government has tried to paint democracy activists as foreign puppets in the past, alleging they take foreign money. “The regime are the ones taking American money. But they always accuse us of having foreign money whenever there are calls for democracy,” says Shabaan.
Attitudes like Shabaan’s point to a frequently overlooked disconnect. America’s conviction that its rhetoric will help secure its interests in the region often clash with the anti-US leanings of many of the Arab world’s democracy activists, who generally belong either to Islamist parties or to left-leaning, anti-US groups. CSM
ah, the gloom and doom. If we can deal with France, we can deal with a democratic Middle East. At least they’re honest.
