From Seattle writer and consultant Matt Rosenberg...: Baroud: Arab World Must Shape Up

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Baroud: Arab World Must Shape Up

May 19, 2004

In the Daily Star (covering Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait and the Middle East), pro-Palestinian journalist Ramzy Baroud opines the Arab world must shape up - without using U.S. or Israeli policies as an excuse to forestall reform.

For one, Arab countries are in urgent need of overreaching change, change that fundamentally refurbishes their political, economic and even cultural institutions......the realization among many Arabs that the U.S. government is seeking to further its strategic goal in the region can hardly diminish the quandary.
...the U.N.-sponsored study by Arab scholars: The Arab Human Development Report....espoused no illusions; 'the global wave of democracy has barely reached the Arab states,' it grimly concludes.

In many Arab countries, poverty and illiteracy have reached a staggering level; human rights abuses are widespread; prisons swarm with 'prisoners of conscience'; freedom of expression is confined to press releases and empty promises; even when positive change takes place, it's often slow and insufficient, a behavior that is rationalized by the compelling need for 'gradualism' in reform.

Interestingly, this "gradual" change almost always guarantees the absolute role of the political elite.

...Further, the persistence of some Arab countries on placing the solving of the Arab-Israeli conflict as a prerequisite to democratic reform seems rather self-defeating. Sure, if the idea is to highlight that Washington is only interested in achieving its strategic goals and not remedying the bleeding wound of the region, exemplified by the Middle East conflict, then, point taken.

But how long can Arab governments wave this sword? Do Arab women have to be denied proper education, Arab public political representation and Arab nations an integrated economic system, until Israel's Ariel Sharon decides to end his colonial reign in the West Bank and Gaza?

As cruel and costly as the Arab-Israeli conflict has been, I still fail to see the connection.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at May 19, 2004 08:31 AM

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Comments:

If there is any single intellectual error at the root of our mistakes in Iraq, I believe it was the assumption that once Saddam's regime was swept aside views like those expressed by Mr. Baroud would come to the surface.

Regrettably, that has not happened. Anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism are so deeply entrenched in Arab culture that they taint every effort to render assistance from outside. If America supports democracy, it must be spurned. If it would make life in Israel safer, it would be a betrayal of Islam.

There is very little that we can do about this. Making ourselves loved more, if that were possible, will not make our institutions more acceptable. Nor will our bad behavior make them less acceptable. Either people like Mr. Baroud will carry they day, or they will not. Until they do, we must look to our own defenses and stop trying to spare the Arabs the consequences of their own self-defeating hatreds.

I am for war until they are for peace.

Posted by: Tom Rekdal at May 19, 2004 10:38 AM

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