Rulers of the Arab world – tinpot dictators, corrupt, delusional and cruel
There's a slogan that has become the emblem of the revolution in the entire Arab world: “The people want the fall of the regime” - “Alshaab youreed isqat elnidham”.
The standard response of every dictator in the Arab world is: Who, me? Then they blame everything and everybody except themselves. What arrogance! In fact, to any objective observer of the Middle East, the question is not why the revolution is happening, but why it has taken so long! The reality of politics in the Arab world was succinctly summed up by a Syrian pro-democracy demonstrator with: “We the people are only allowed to open our mouths when we go to the dentist”.
Arab despots see the legitimate demands of their people for justice, human rights and freedom as a challenge to their manliness. It has inhibited them from responding intelligently and flexibly. Arab society with a culture that generally excludes women from politics, and admires a “fearless” leader, who is ruthless and unable to tolerate dissent, is a poor one with ruinous consequences for its people.
Stubbornness and domination have become characteristics to be admired in the male with varying degrees in the entire Arab world. Girls are encouraged to defer to their brothers, and taught to hide their intelligence and good sense in discussions with their male counterparts. Males are burdened from an early age to assume the mantle of family leadership, and encouraged to see themselves as protector of the extended family against all external threats. This macho tradition is transferred to the politics of an Arab world that largely excludes women, and has produced an unhealthy imbalance between the sexes that has been to the detriment of everyone in society.
Highly educated women such as doctors, teachers, philosophers and authors, are discouraged, with doors firmly shut in their faces, from entering the 'man's' world of politics. The internet and social communication websites such as Facebook and Twitter have made inroads into such a culture, and have given women the confidence to say, "You know what, we can do better than you men in the running and governance of the country". The problem has always been in the past that they could not get involved in politics. Politics was, and is, a dangerous activity to get involved in. You had to be a ruthless bully or come from a ruthless tribe or family to survive it, and to reach the top you would have had to physically eliminate your opponents.
The uprisings (revolutions) in the Arab world are initiating the necessary change, it is hoped, to produce "normal politics". It will be slow, and has some way to travel before the final destination of human rights in its full meaning of the word is reached. The involvement of women in the revolution itself is unprecedented in the Arab world and no one predicted that. These women have had the courage to confront some of the most tyrannical regimes on the planet.
This Arab revolution is one. The aims are common; human rights, justice, democracy and freedom, and an end to endemic corruption and nepotism. It is bad enough to have tyranny and despotism, but to have all of that with incompetence and wasting of resources on a scale that condemns large numbers of young educated people to a life of poverty and misery is too much to bear. This is contrasted with the obscene wealth acquired by the ruling elite through pillaging the wealth of the nation. The rulers cannot comprehend that the forces driving the rage of the young in the Arab world, for which many have made the ultimate sacrifice, are the same. Moreover, the young have no confidence in existing parties and organizations to affect meaningful change that serves their aspirations for a better future. Many of these parties and organisations, in their struggle against colonialism and foreign interference, have over the years brought assorted despots, gangsters and dictators to rule over people whom they have treated as sheep that should be grateful for having a shepherd to rule over them.
The young want the right to be able to influence the future through open debate, discussion, and the right to associate freely, and through a bottom up process to build institutions and parties to fight for power through the ballot box. They want societies where the rule of law is universal and makes no distinction between the prince and the pauper. Is that too much to ask? If people are denied all of that, they do not need additional external influences or powers to rise against such injustice and tyranny.
The young can now communicate at the speed of light, and they can compare their lives with those of others who do have most of those rights. Is it surprising that they want the same? This speed of communication is a game changer, but it is beyond the understanding of the fossilised corpses that rule the Arab world.
Commentators continuously remind everyone of the Sunni and Shia divide, between the religious and secularists, between Muslims and non Muslims...etc. Not many seem to grasp the fact that the young have moved beyond these narrow confines of ethnicity and religious affiliation. Their rulers are also obsessed with these irrelevant distinctions between people. This is why a wide gulf in understanding exists between the ruling dinosaurs and the revolutionary young.
Addressing injustices in Arab societies, believing in the universality of human rights regardless of ethnicity and religious affiliation, genuine democracy, and freedom are the best defence the Arabs have against any external influence.
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Dr Adnan Al-Daini took early retirement in 2005 as a principal lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at a British University. His PhD in Mechanical Engineering is from Birmingham University, UK. He has published numerous applied scientific research papers covering heat transfer, fluid flow and energy utilization in many industrial applications. He is a British citizen born in Iraq. Since retirement he has devoted his time and energy to building bridges and understanding between minority communities, particularly the Muslim community and the wider community in the South West of England. He was Chair of Devon Racial Equality Council between 2007/8. Adnan is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post.
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Video: http://youtu.be/eFTtQ_8npBE
URL: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2011/07/21/rulers-of-the-arab-world-tinpot-dictator
