“Other Arab Voices”

[pieter]

“Let’s not be so negative about the Arab world!”



Western news reports about the Arab world are too negative, says former Dutch diplomat Petra Stienen. In her new book, “Other Arab Voices”, she explains that there has been a genuine change in the region since the revolutions.

Stienen served at the Dutch embassies in Syria and Egypt for nearly a decade. In 2008, her book “Dreams of an Arab spring” was met with widespread acclaim in the Netherlands. It turned out to be prophetic two years later when the Arab Spring broke out.

But 18 months later, the revolution has made way for the harsh reality of the present. In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad is massacring his own people, and in Egypt, Tunesia and Libya, conservative forces have come to the fore which, according to some, threaten the revolution’s ideals. But these developments don’t discourage Stienen. In her new publication, she describes meetings with Egyptian and Syrian activists, artists, businessmen and journalists who she says are trying to bring about change from within.

Q: Why did you write this book?
The Western media have become increasingly negative in their reporting about the Arab revolutions and their fall-out. Of course, some developments are disturbing – the revolutions’ promises have not yet been realised. But I come back from every trip to the region, feeling optimistic.

A new generation has emerged which wants change. It’s prepared to enter into a dialogue with others and look critically at itself. There’s a new awareness throughout the population, and people are determined to hold their politicians to account if they don’t fulfil their promises. I see this new mentality not only among secular liberals, but also among Islamists. I wanted to show that in this book.

Q: And you believe that the Western media aren’t reporting enough about this.
The demonstrations against the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims” are a good example. In Egypt and Libya, the protests were relatively small, but they received extensive coverage in the Western media. But there was almost no reporting about the peaceful demonstrations in Egypt and Libya. In Benghazi, 30,000 people staged a protest against the Salifists who were responsible for the murder of the American ambassador. Hardly any footage of that was broadcast on Western TV.

In Syria, reporters are focusing exclusively on the violence. Of course, it is horrible, but there are so many other things which we aren’t hearing about. In my book, I quoted one of my Syrian friends who said, “it’s about time that you show our human side because now it looks like we’re just a bunch of animals slaughtering each other”. My book is an appeal to Western journalists: go and find those other voices.

Q: What do you think of Dutch policy regarding the Arab revolutions?
I think it’s contradictory. On the one hand, Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal organised a conference about internet freedom. He’s also made millions of euros available for bloggers and cyberactivists in Syria. He’s bragging about the “good things” he is doing for people there.
But on the other hand, there’s much less funding and staff to do the real diplomatic work behind the scenes. The Dutch embassy in Syria is closed, and the Dutch institutes in Damascus, Beirut and Amman are going to be shut down. If the Netherlands wants to play a role in the region, it has to make money and people available. It also has to maintain its networks.

Q: In Europe there’s a great deal of concern about the Islamist groups who have begun playing a more prominent role since the outbreak of the revolutions. How do you feel about this development?
Democracy is about people’s right to determine their own future. If Egyptians and Tunisians do that by voting for parties which we disapprove of, then we just have to accept that.

We have to be more flexible when it comes to the Islamists. Europeans only want to discuss the rights of gays and women with the Islamists. Why don’t we lgo beyond the bikinis and booze and ask about their economic agenda, what they expect from us, and how we can work together. Personal civic and political liberties also have to be part of that dialogue. Economic growth is only possible if people are creative and innovative.

Q: Chris Stevens, the US ambassador who was recently murdered in Libya, was a good friend of yours. Did his death affect your optimism about the region?
I was deeply shocked by Chris’s death. But his murder doesn’t make me less optimistic about the region. I found it very comforting how many Libyans posted condolences on his Facebook page. He was as well loved in Libya as in the other Arab countries where he worked. People saw him as someone who was on their side. Chris would have been the first one to say: continue the dialogue with the Arab world. Don’t let such a horrible event scare you off.


The final moments of Chris Stevens, the US ambassador of Lybia


Chris Stevens in better days.

[pieter]

[pieter]

The Arab religious-secular balance

October 22, 2012 01:57 AM
By Rami G. Khouri
The Daily Star



There are many ways in which one can analyze the current transformations across parts of the Arab world in the wave of populist revolutions that overthrew some dictators and still threaten others.

The one lens that I find most useful for analyzing the changes under way and the challenges ahead sees the events in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen – where the transformation processes are most advanced – as aiming to achieve a series of new balances in several critical realms.

The most important ones in my view are the balance between military and civilian authority, between religiosity and secularism, between central government and decentralized regional authority, between the private and public sectors, between tribal/sectarian and national identity, and between indigenous and foreign values. Whether and to what extent these balances reach a point of equilibrium that reflects national consensus will largely determine if these countries remain stable and enjoy a satisfactory governance system, regardless of its degree of democracy.

The most advanced examples of these balance-seeking transitions are Tunisia and Egypt, which have been transitioning for over a year and a half now, thus providing sufficient experience to evaluate some key trends, successes and challenges. My impression is that the balance between military and civilian rule is well on the way to being defined in favor of civilian oversight of the military, though with continuing privileges for the military officer corps. The shock and definitive result of the overthrow of the former regimes by street demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt were so severe that they have stamped the new phenomenon of populist legitimacy on the entire political governance system.

It is difficult for any one group – the armed forces, Islamists, judges or old guard politicians – to try to unilaterally control political power and exclude other actors. If they try, they will quickly feel the counter-forces of populist legitimacy that force them to comply with the single most important new development in the region, which is the applicability, and perhaps even the supremacy, of the principle of the consent of the governed in some Arab countries.

With the civilian-military balance gradually on the way to being redefined, the single most important balance now being negotiated across much of the Arab world is that between religious and secular forces. This predominantly pits Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist groups against others that do not explicitly use religion to define their governing principles. (It is important to note that the struggle between secular and religious forces is not only an Arab issue. The three other powerful countries in the region – Israel, Turkey and Iran – also each grapple with a variation of this secular-religious divide, so we should not fall prey to the simplistic view that Arabs or Muslims have a special problem with religion in public life.)

As the people of Egypt and Tunisia now work their way through this decisive stage of writing and validating new constitutions, the religious-secular contest will reach its peak. All interested parties understand the significance of new constitutions that will define national values and governance systems for years to come. Islamists in both countries are trying to shape constitutions that give a special role to Islamic dictates and values in national life, and also in personal issues like the role of women in society. Others, predominantly Muslims who share the personal commitment to Islamic values but see human rights and common citizenship rights rather than any religion as the defining element in constitution-writing, have started to organize to push back against the Islamists.

We have witnessed in the past six months important initial attempts by secular, nationalist, leftist and progressive parties in Tunisia and Egypt to form larger coalitions that could better confront the dominant Islamists who now head the existing governments. The push-backs against the ruling Islamists have included political mobilization and coalition building attempts by non-religious groups and street demonstrations in both countries. In Tunisia, non-religious groups have registered a small but meaningful gain with the decision to elect the president through a national vote rather than by parliament, where the Islamists of the Ennahda Party dominate.

We should expect these and other dynamics to go on for some years, but in the short run the center of gravity of the secular-religious faceoff will shift toward public discussions of the draft constitutions that have now started circulating in the countries involved and even abroad among interested expatriates. This in itself is a major milestone and a practical victory for the revolutions that overthrew the former autocrats last year. We have much to celebrate in watching ordinary Egyptians and Tunisians openly debate their new constitutions and coming to a national consensus that will shape the exercise of power for decades to come.

If Arab countries can peacefully and democratically define a new military-civilian power balance and the balance of religious-secular values in their constitutions and public spheres, these would be two enormous gains that will long loom as a critical foundation for sensible and legitimate nation-building in the years ahead.

Rami G. Khouri is published twice weekly by THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @ramikhouri.

Rami George Khouri



Rami George Khouri born 22 October 1948, in New York City to an Arab Palestinian Christian family. His father, George Khouri, a Nazarene journalist in what was the British mandate of Palestine had traveled with his wife to New York in 1947 to cover the United Nations (UN) debates about the future of Palestine. Rami is a journalist and editor with joint Palestinian-Jordanian and United States citizenship whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is also a highly regarded public speaker. After attending secondary school at the International School of Geneva in Switzerland Rami returned to the US to complete his education. Rami has also served for many years as the chief umpire for Little League baseball in Jordan.

In 1971, Khoury began his career working as a reporter for the English-language newspaper the Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon. From 1972 to 1973, Khouri continued writing columns for the paper while working as managing editor of Middle East Sketch magazine. Following a year in the United States as program administrator for the Division of International Programs Abroad at Syracuse University, Khouri returned to Beirut to become managing editor of Middle East Money in Beirut from 1973 to 1974. He then moved to Amman, Jordan, where he served as editor-in-chief of Jordan’s English-language daily, the Jordan Times, from 1975 to 1982 and again from 1987
Khoury is director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut.[5] His journalistic work includes writing books and an internationally syndicated column by progressive commentary agency called Agence Global, founded by Jahan Salehi. Khoury also serves as editor at large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune. In recent years he hosted "Encounter", a weekly current affairs talk show on Jordan Television, and "Jordan Ancient Cultures", a weekly archaeology program on Radio Jordan.
Khoury was a Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University (2001–2002), nonresident senior fellow of the Dubai Initiative at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and was appointed a member of the Brookings Institution Task Force on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World. Khoury is a research associate at the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflict at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University (NY, USA), a Fellow of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, Jerusalem (PASSIA), and a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard University Divinity School. Khoury also serves on the board of the EastWest Institute, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University and the National Museum of Jordan.
He was executive editor of the Daily Star newspaper from 2003–05, and previously was the editor in chief of the Jordan Times for seven years. He also wrote for many years from Amman, Jordan for leading international publications, including the Financial Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post. For 18 years he was general manager of Al Kutba, Publishers, in Amman, and in recent years served as a consultant to the Jordanian tourism ministry on biblical archaeological sites. He often comments on Mideast issues in the international media, and lectures frequently at conferences and universities throughout the world.

[pieter]

Watch from 12.14 minutes> Petra Stienen's contribution.