The Arab Spring- a real people revolution by: Mohamed Kamel
The Arab
Spring- a real people revolution
Mohamed
Kamel*
June 12th,
2011
What we
have been seeing in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain is a real
revolution sparked by life under oppression for several decades, oppression that
was created by colonialism and extended by internal governing forces.
The domino
effects that sparked the Arab area encouraged many to accept describing it as
the Arab Spring. But this Arab Spring has become a hostage of many
beneficiaries on various level, local and internationally.
On the
local level, the scream for change is challenging the oppressors’ regimes in
all Arab countries. A few of these
regimes were able to manipulate people’s movement by implementing limited cosmetic
changes. Examples of this are Jordan and Algeria, where their governments were
able to benefit form the division between the population, the revolutionaries and
traditionally domesticated parties.
Others were
able to play the sectarian card, which was very clear in Bahrain’s case and to
some extent in Yemen. It succeeded in
Bahrain not because of its sectarian nature, but because the country is structured
in a sense where all wealth and governing power went to the Sunnis while the
Shias got nothing. The equality
revolution came from the Shias who suffered this injustice for decades
supported by some wise Sunnis.
While the
revolution in Syria is different from many angles, as all other revolutions, it
is a people revolution against the regime’s oppression. However, it also shows the divisible line on the
Syria/Lebanon affair that exhausted the region for many decades that is not isolated
from the sectarian notion of Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah.
While Yemen
was touched by the sensation of the sectarian division it has another division
line as well, the tribal division, making it very similar
to the Libyan situation.
Both revolutions are a scream for freedom, faced with a tribal line of
division, found to be the most comfortable for the regimes to counter the
revolution.
And while we named here half of the Arab
countries, the other half is not far from the revolution. Either its population is moving under the
surface or its government is blocking the changes as the case of the United
Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The only
two countries that escaped the sectarian tension were Tunisia and Egypt. Tunisia has always been nonsectarian and
nontribal. And, Egypt was able to
overcome the well planned sectarian division between Muslims and Copts, a
division that was implemented under the occupation and resisted until the Sadat
regime.
Both Tunisia
and Egypt were able to escape this implanted sectarian tension because their
revolution was lead by the youth and not by domestic traditional parties.
We
evaluated here the internal force of change and blockage but we can’t have this
analysis without addressing the external intervention that played in both
directions, encouraging the so called “stability” and praising the democracy
wished by the oppressed people.
Hypocrisy
is nothing new in western politics. While
democracy has to be our faith, they never challenge their tyrant friends in the
Middle East. And while Human Rights
should be our common value, Palestinians’ right is not among them.
This
hypocrisy was very clear in dealing with the Egyptian revolution. They maintained their support for Mubarak,
until they discovered that he was collapsing.
At which point, they turned their face against him and start appeasing
the revolution.
And once
again in Libya, Yemen and Syria, the revolution didn’t survive the western
hypocrisy. The revolutionary were engaged
in a dialogue with the western powers to help them in fighting the oppression, the
same oppression that has been supported by the western forces for decades.
Iraq was no
exception of this western hypocrisy and arrogant behavior. After invading and occupying Iraq, they redraw
the Iraqi map into multiple sectarian divisions Arabs/Kurds and Sunni/Shia.
So the Arab
spring is coming with a string where the West has a last chance to follow their
pretended values that if followed will match their people’s long term goals of peace,
democracy and human rights, or they could be rewriting a new chapter of
hypocrisy in manipulating people.
Wherever
this western interest will stand, no Arab country will escape the Arab spring
even in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Israel was
not far from all this, because their era of controlling the Arab world is
almost over. They are unhappy with that because
as all other oppressors, they will not be able to maintain their superiority
and they will not survive the Arab revolution, as long as they continue to
think that the Palestinian’s rights is of less value than all other.
And because
the Arab Spring is a real people revolution, no one will be able to survive it
unless they give it a chance.
* Mohamed S. Kamel: is a
Freelance writer, the editor of http://forafreeegypt.blogspot.com/,
he is a professional engineer, a LEED Green Associate and a recognized project
manager professional, he is Member of several civil society organizations, a
co-founder of the Canadian Egyptian for Democracy (CEFD), National Association
for Change in Egypt (Taghyeer – Canada), Association of the Egyptians of
Montreal (AEM), Alternative Perspective Media (APM-RAM), , Quebec Antiwar movement
“Échec à la Guerre”, Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine “CJPP” and ex-president and co-founder of the
Canadian Muslim Forum. He could be reached at public@mohamedkamel.com
Other related articles:
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Is this Egypt that we knew?
February 13th,
2011
It is a Revolution that is changing the face of the
Middle East
April 3rd,
2011
Palestine and
the Egyptian Revolution
posted by Mohamed S Kamel @ 9:50 PM
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