Round table "Meaning of Maghreb?" - Zizek, Habashi, Amin, Harvey, Bauman, 18th May 2011

"The meaning of Maghreb?" Round Table discussion featuring Slavoj Žižek, Mamdouh Habashi, Samir Amin, David Harvey, Zygmunt Bauman. Pt. 1 of 8.

Jeremy Scahill on Yemen and US covert action.

Inside Story - True Democracy for Egypt?

Chomsky interview på BBC

Interview with Libyan opposition

The Battle for Zawiyah

Fortsatte massive protester i Bahrain.

Titusinder af demonstranter omringede i søndags regeringsbygningnerne i Manama, Bahrains hovedstad, for at lægge pres på den royale familie for at der gennemføres omfattende reformer. Protestbevægelsen kræver regeringens afgang, reformering af den herskende orden til et konstitutionelt monarki, løsladelse af alle politiske fanger, reformering af valgsystemet, etablering af en ny overgangsregering og en uafhængige undersøgelse af syv protestanters dødsfald siden sammenstødene mellem magthaverne og protestbevægelsen startede for over en uge siden.

Bahrain er en ø-nation som er en vigtig strategisk allieret for USA, idet det amerikanske militærs femte flåde har base i landet hvor man administrerer op mod en femtedel af landarealet. Man støtter fortsat op om den autokratiske kongefamilie, mens man dog iflg. Wall Street Journal, fra officiel side har hævdet, at denne støtte ikke er ubetinget og godt kan ændre sig såfremt styret ikke møder protestbevægelsen med tilbageholdenhed i magtanvendelsen, eller, hvis der kommer oprør i gaderne i stor skala. Sidstnævnte bør imidlertid vække skepsis idet hele 40 pct. af Bahrains befolkning var på gaden samtidig i den hidtil største demonstration mod styret. Hvis ikke 40 pct. af befolkningens simultane protest er et stort nok oprør, hvad er så?

[Check i øvrigt denne interessante baggrundsartikel om den amerikanske alliance med Bahrain, skrevet af den amerikanske mellemøstekspert og professor i politologi Stephen Zunes].

Orientalisten Thomas Friedman.

Den verdenskendte klummeskribent og politiske kommentator ved New York Times, Thomas Friedman, havde den 2. marts en klumme i avisen hvor han postulerer, at revolutionerne i Mellemøsten blandt andet kan tilskrives Obamas nu så berømte Cairo-tale, samt hans mellemnavn og hudfarve, og at dette var blandt årsagerne til at egypterne rejste sig mod deres (amerikansk støttede) diktator. Denne og Friedmans øvrige årsagsforklaringer gendrives på Counterpunch af Esam al-Amin som anklager Friedman for at være orientalistisk anlagt.

Wael Ghonim: Inside the Egyptian revolution

Al Jazeera: Libyan rebels repel Gaddafi forces.

Om Vestlig intervention i Libyen.

Det Nationale Libyske Råd har netop offentliggjort, at man har dannet en krisekomite som har til formål at strømline beslutningstagningsprocessen udenrigspoltisk og militært. Rådets formand, den tidligere justitsminister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, opfordrer andre magter til at foretage luftangreb mod Gaddafis styrker, de revolutionære libyere ønsker imidlertid selv at befri landet fra Gaddafis jernnæve, hvorfor man ikke ønsker fremmede magters soldater på libysk jord.

Al Jazeera: Tariq Ali om amerikansk udenrigspolitik i Mellemøsten.

Le Scandal.

Revolutionerne i den arabiske verden har også haft interessante konsekvenser i Europa, nærmere bestemt i Frankrig, hvor regeringens respons på de revolutionære begivenheder i Mellemøsten har vakt harme og modstand. Den franske udenrigsminister Michèle Alliot-Marie måtte den 27. februar gå af efter blot fire måneder på posten. Årsagen var at Alliot-Marie den 11. Januar, på et tidspunkt hvor Ben Ali-regimet allerede havde dræbt mindst 35 protestanter, tilbød at støtte op om diktatoren og hjælpe med at løse hans sikkerhedsproblem. Dette fik en række franske oppositionspolitikere, herunder den tidligere premierminister Laurent Fabius, til at kræve ministerens afgang. Dette er imidlertid blot en del af en større fortælling om Sarkozy-regeringens forkærlighed for samarbejde med nordafrikanske diktatorer. Newsweeks korrespondent i Frankrig, Eric Pape, har skrevet en læseværdig gennemgang af hvad han betegner som Le Scandal.

Analyse: Irak har fortsat diktatoriske træk.

Iraq's burgeoning protest movement shows that the country may have more in common with other Arab dictatorships than the United States would care to admit [..]

A generation of Iraqis has grown up with even less control over their lives than youth elsewhere in the Arab world. They went from brutality and scarcity under Saddam Hussein to a U.S.-led liberation they never asked for. Foreign troops patrolled their streets, searched their houses at night, yelled at them in a language they didn't understand, and, as the WikiLeaked war logs show, killed without good reason. The ensuing chaos placed them at the mercy of Iraq's fearsome militias. And now, they're living under a prime minister who is undermining some of the crucial checks and balances that are meant to make the Iraqi government accountable to its people [..]

There is more to democracy than elections, and, in some crucial ways, Iraq is becoming more autocratic. Iraq's Supreme Court ruled in January that several independent institutions -- including the central bank, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), and human rights and anti-corruption committees -- should be under the control of the government's council of ministers led by Maliki. The prime minister's critics have accused him of pressuring the court to issue the ruling. The bloc led by Ayad Allawi, the former interim prime minister and Maliki's rival, issued a statement condemning the verdict as "a coup against democracy."

This decision will have a significant and pernicious effect on Iraq's nascent democratic system. Qassim Aboudi, an Iraqi judge and IHEC official, condemned the Supreme Court's decision, raising fears that future elections could see more meddling if the elections commission is not politically independent. The human rights committee is also an important check on the security services' behavior. A recent Human Rights Watch report, detailing abuses at secret prisons run by a security force close to the prime minister, is just the latest example of the sort of issue that the committee cannot be expected to investigate objectively if it is under political control.

Foreign Policy: "Up in Arms."

Analyse: Saudi-araberne er klar til politisk forandring.

Saudi Arabia is ripe for change. Despite its image as a fabulously wealthy realm with a quiescent, apolitical population, it has similar economic, demographic, social, and political conditions as those prevailing in its neighboring Arab countries. There is no reason to believe Saudis are immune to the protest fever sweeping the region.

Foreign Policy.

ElBaradei: Mubarak should leave office to keep his dignity.

Potential presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei said President Mubarak should retire and leave office to keep his dignity.

In an interview with On TV satellite channel late on Sunday, ElBaradei said the Egyptian regime had lost its credibility and legitimacy, describing it as "pharaonic" for depending on only one person. The young protestors in Tahrir Square think Mubarak's resignation will resolve many of the problems they are protesting about.

“I hope Mubarak will respond,” ElBaradei added. “The regime is eroding as National Democratic Party figures quit, and many ministers have been referred to trial. The regime depends solely on Mubarak. Speaking of a void that would occur if Mubarak leaves proves the whole regime depends on him--which should never happen in any country.”

ElBaradei said Egyptian youth took to the streets on 25 January to call for a free, democratic system that does not rely on individuals.

We shouldn’t concern ourselves with the US stance towards the protests in Egypt, he pointed out, saying change will be achieved by Egyptians.

He also said “I don’t think the Muslim Brotherhood will come to power. They told me they won’t nominate anyone for the presidential elections and will run for only 30 percent of parliamentary seats. They don’t represent the majority of Egyptians."

Al Masry Al Youm: ElBaradei: Mubarak should leave office to keep his dignity.

Michael Irving Jensen og Søren Espersen diskuterer Ægypten

Chomsky: It's Not Radical Islam That Worries The US – It's Independence

The current hope appears to be Mubarak loyalist Gen. Omar Suleiman, just named Egypt’s vice president. Suleiman, the longtime head of the intelligence services, is despised by the rebelling public almost as much as the dictator himself.

A common refrain among pundits is that fear of radical Islam requires (reluctant) opposition to democracy on pragmatic grounds. While not without some merit, the formulation is misleading. The general threat has always been independence. In the Arab world, the United States and its allies have regularly supported radical Islamists, sometimes to prevent the threat of secular nationalism.

A familiar example is Saudi Arabia, the ideological center of radical Islam (and of Islamic terror). Another in a long list is Zia ul-Haq, the most brutal of Pakistan’s dictators and President Reagan’s favorite, who carried out a program of radical Islamization (with Saudi funding).

Chomsky: It's Not Radical Islam That Worries The US – It's Independence.

Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution?

It seems as if the world is entering the beginnings of a new revolutionary era: the era of the ‘Global Political Awakening.’ While this ‘awakening’ is materializing in different regions, different nations and under different circumstances, it is being largely influenced by global conditions. The global domination by the major Western powers, principally the United States, over the past 65 years, and more broadly, centuries, is reaching a turning point. The people of the world are restless, resentful, and enraged. Change, it seems, is in the air. As the above quotes from Brzezinski indicate, this development on the world scene is the most radical and potentially dangerous threat to global power structures and empire. It is not a threat simply to the nations in which the protests arise or seek change, but perhaps to a greater degree, it is a threat to the imperial Western powers, international institutions, multinational corporations and banks that prop up, arm, support and profit from these oppressive regimes around the world. Thus, America and the West are faced with a monumental strategic challenge: what can be done to stem the Global Political Awakening? Zbigniew Brzezinski is one of the chief architects of American foreign policy, and arguably one of the intellectual pioneers of the system of globalization. Thus, his warnings about the 'Global Political Awakening' are directly in reference to its nature as a threat to the prevailing global hierarchy. As such, we must view the 'Awakening' as the greatest hope for humanity. Certainly, there will be mainy failures, problems, and regressions; but the 'Awakening' has begun, it is underway, and it cannot be so easily co-opted or controlled as many might assume.

The reflex action of the imperial powers is to further arm and support the oppressive regimes, as well as the potential to organize a destabilization through covert operations or open warfare (as is being done in Yemen). The alterantive is to undertake a strategy of "democratization" in which Western NGOs, aid agencies and civil society organizations establish strong contacts and relationships with the domestic civil society in these regions and nations. The objective of this strategy is to organize, fund and help direct the domestic civil society to produce a democratic system made in the image of the West, and thus maintain continuity in the international hierarchy. Essentially, the project of "democratization" implies creating the outward visible constructs of a democratic state (multi-party elections, active civil society, "independent" media, etc) and yet maintain continuity in subservience to the World Bank, IMF, multinational corporations and Western powers.

It appears that both of these strategies are being simultaneously imposed in the Arab world: enforcing and supporting state oppression and building ties with civil society organizations. The problem for the West, however, is that they have not had the ability to yet establish strong and dependent ties with civil society groups in much of the region, as ironically, the oppressive regimes they propped up were and are unsurprisingly resistant to such measures. In this sense, we must not cast aside these protests and uprisings as being instigated by the West, but rather that they emerged organically, and the West is subsequently attempting to co-opt and control the emerging movements.

Global Research: Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution?

Shamir Hamid: "Two models of democratic change are emerging."

Mellemøstekspert Shamir Hamid: "...Two models of democratic change are emerging. One is the Tunisia-Egypt-Yemen model of overturning the regime. This would seem to apply in republics, where protesters have one simple, overarching demand – that the president give up power. The person of the president, because of his dominating, partisan role, provides a rallying point for protesters. This is conducive to opposition unity. They disagree on a lot, but last they can agree on the most important thing.

The other model of change focuses around constitutional reform in the Arab monarchies. In countries like Jordan and Morocco, there are reasonably free elections. But elections have limited relevance because it’s the king who has final decision-making authority. The problem here is not necessarily the king himself but the institution of the monarchy and its disproportionate power. The solution, then, is constitutional reform that shifts power away from the king toward an elected parliament and an independent judiciary. This is what opposition groups are calling for in Jordan.

While different, both models are about altering political structures rather than gradual, slow reform. Leaders have not caught on. They seem to still think they can offer half-measures to appease their people. But the lesson of Tunisia and Egypt – as well as Yemen, Jordan, and many others – is that Arab populations, after waiting and waiting, have run out of patience."