Protester in the Arab world
The Arab revolution was at its initial an implosion that was
expected to bring down several autocratic and inefficient leaders in the Middle
East due to decades of social neglect, political and economic disparities that
was associated with so much hopelessness and psychological pain among the
majority of the people in the Arab world. The political and economic underdevelopment
of the Arab world was a situation which the people consistently struggle to
deal with on daily basis as a result of the long stay in power by dictators and
autocratic monarchs. The anger within various populations of each Arab state was
an inbuilt expression that could not be expressed publicly for decades. And
among the majority both at home and abroad who were born within the reign of
the dictators and monarchs, life has never been better from that which their
parents had. There was no way they could
add value to the system of governance of their respective countries so that,
that which they dream of could manifest, not until the clarion call to change their
destiny and the uneven political environment was triggered in Tunisia.
Socio-economic challenges,
lack of job opportunity, corruption, injustice, miss-placed governance and human
right abuses manifested themselves in the fabrics of the Arab society
throughout the Middle East for decades and it became the route that led to the
revolution fashioned against those who govern them. The Arab rulers never saw it coming neither
did the Western governments that supported these dictators ever expected that
various Arab population could rise up and express their anger and hatred which
had been suppressed for decades in a public show of revolts and discontent
towards their leaders. The early events
of the revolution in Tunisia and the exile of its President, Bin Ali to Saudi
Arabia gave confidence to other fellow Arabs in the region, that the natural
flow of the revolution was driven by the people. The Egyptians tagged along in
the revolution by using much of the social networking sites like Facebook and
Twitter to organize themselves for demonstrations at Tahir square in order to see to the end of their
President, Hosni Mubarak whom had spent 30 years in power. Their effort paid
off after 18 days of struggle, sweat and blood and it was glaring that the people’s power was at
work. The Arab spring became a raging fire that was sweeping through the Middle
East and had crumbled two long serving leaders and their governments within a
short relative period of time.
Tear gas fired by police in pearl roundabout Bahrain
The natural flow of the revolution and the response of the
ousted Tunisian and Egyptian leadership became a freighting precedence for
other Arab despots and even their Allies in Western capitals. International
political analysis of the Arab revolution at its early stages showed that the
uprising would take many of those autocratic rulers that align themselves towards
the West. This was because the Arab populations were much intertwined with the political
and economic disadvantages that were taking place in the region which is the
basis of their anger. One should not exclude the much pathetic situation which
is deemed to be the cancer of the region, the emancipation of the Palestinian
people from the Israeli occupation as a reason for their anger against their
leaders. The Arabs are of the view that
the Western capitals rapport with their autocratic leaders paves the way for
maintaining the American and European control over the region continuously at
the expense of the people and the unabated brutality of the Palestinian people
by the Israeli regime.
Conclusively, they felt the attitude of their leaders
towards the Palestinians resistance group was in tune with that of the West and
Israel. The Arab world saw President Hosni Mubarak exhibited those attitudes before
and during the Israeli “Operation Cast led” which killed approximately 1,400
people in the Gaza strip. The Western
demonization of the elected government of Hamas that controls the Gaza strip,
the wars atrocities committed by the Allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and
the sufferings emitted out to the Palestinians by the Israeli government to
mention a few, was a source for concern among the Arab population, that never
saw justice to what the Americans and Europeans preached as human values. And ousting
those leaders that they felt are the cause of their social and political
problems was what the revolution seems to offer.
When protesters took to streets and began to demonstrate on
daily basis demanding democratic governance in the Katif region of Saudi Arabia,
capital city Manama in Bahrain, Casablanca in Morocco and in Jordan. There were
fears in the palace and the kings had to think of a way to suppress the
demonstrations with the support of their Western allies. Western backed
dictators and monarchs frantically made calls to Western capitals to get
assurances that their grip on powers will be guarantee in the chaotic situation
which they are faced with. The Western allies guaranteed the security of
countries like, Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Yemen was asked to
work in synergy with Saudi Arabia due to its proximity, for the fact that if
Yemen was to fall into the hands of the revolutionaries, the possibility of the
revolution spilling into Saudi Arabia was certain. With those strategies in
motion and daily update of reports within the security and military circles of
both sides, they were able to guarantee the stay of the Arab monarchs in power
till date. Saudi Arabia which had much of weaponry and was not short of
military personnel sent in reinforcements to Bahrain its neighbor to quell the
uprising in the country when the King’s security capability could not handle
the protesters. While that of Yemen had a safe presidential exit due to his
long standing relationship with many western capitals. The natural flow of the
Arab revolution was not able to get beyond few states in the Arab world before
it was hijacked. This was because its growth and influence if allowed to
consume the region would become an anathema to the strategic advantage of the
West and their Middle Eastern allies.
It was common knowledge within diplomatic
circles around the world that the Arab revolution was a natural triggered action
which seeks for a change after decades of misplaced governance; it was a
response by the people to create a better way of administration that would
improve the wellbeing of the Arab man in the region. The people that revolted
or did mass mobilized themselves in the monarchical states of the Arab world,
with the intention to do away with their leaders like those of Egypt and
Tunisia did waited expecting to receive support from various international organizations
around the world that preached democratic principles, but never found any
institution to lend them their support. Even the mainstream media in the West
which is known as an advocate of good governance, expected to report the events
in Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the world, hid their cameras
from the struggle.
The natural journey of the Arab spring was cut short instantly,
when it was evident to both regional and international political powers which
had immense influence in the Middle East that the revolution was going to sweep
away their surrogates in the region. The best option was to seek for a
diversion and get their monarchs out of impending danger and for the U.S maintain
its 5th naval fleet in Bahrain and other military bases which is
strategic to its dominance in the region. The U.S government and other European
governments’ involvement in the revolution changed the pattern of the Arab
spring and that was the moment the revolution was stolen away from the Arabs.
Their support for opposition and involvement was utilized as a means to oust leaders
that were not ready to submit to the command of the Western capitals.
To achieve its purpose, a channel was opened through western
intelligence agencies stationed in the Middle East, it was mandated to convert
the few protesters energy in Libya and Syria into a full fledge revolutionaries
energy through western media support for their actions and that of Al-Jazeera
satellite network which is situated in Qatar, a monarchical state. The protest
became bloody when protesters turned to armed men and began to fight government
forces. As soon as protesters began to wield guns, it was virtually clear to
all that it had become a sponsored revolution. The armed insurgency went into
full swing simultaneously in both nations that their leaders were rebellious to
the western and Israel officials. The strategy worked effectively through what
some viewed as foreign sponsored terrorism to the advantage of the opposition
and the activists that sent information out of both Libya and Syria. Terrorist
organizations like Al-Qaida which was officially reported by the Gorge W. Bush
administration to have blown up the World Trade Center in New York and viewed
as an enemy to the Western world in Afghanistan and Iraq aligned with the West
to fight alongside the Sunni sect led opposition in Syria to oust President
Bashar Al-Assad who is an Allawit sect an offshoot of Shia.
The revolution in
Syria became a civil like war between the Sunnis and the Allawites sects that held
on to power in the heterogeneous society.
Ethic power and religiously aligned politics was the determinant in
Syria as expressed by the Western media like CNN, BBC and Fox News which backed
the Sunni rebels. Some Sunni controlled
media outlets in Lebanon and Al-Jazeera in the kingdom of Qatar through its
news items severed as an avenue for recruiting members for the terrorist groups
fighting in Syria. It’s depiction of the revolution in Syria advocated and
sided with the protesters turned rebels. Al-Jazeera news reporting on the Arab
revolution in Syria was entirely different from that of Bahrain that had
majority of its citizens to be Shia followers while the Monarch who rules the
country is a Sunni. Presstv an Iranian satellite station consistently had its
news items to be pro Syria and showed much interest in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia
and Yemen revolution. While in Libya,
the revolution was a NATO backed rebel insurgency officially lunched in
Benghazi against the Gadhafi regime. The attention of the world was quickly driven
towards Libya because of its strategic advantage and the fact that Mohammad
Gadhafi was an arrogant leader practicing socialism that had ruled Libya for 42
years and sitting on a massive oil resource needed by the West.
It was only in Tunisia and Egypt that the people had the advantage
to change the autocratic governments at the early stages of the Arab revolution
which was determined by the natural movement of the people’s revolution. The
foundation of the revolution in effect, was based on the “Will” of the people
which had no foreign interference and that gave rise to the present sense of
stability in Egypt and Tunisia’s democratic institutions, where the people’s
voice is one of the mechanisms for the direction of their governments. For
Yemen it would be a difficult task ahead due to the intervention its revolution
witnessed, that was occasioned by regional and foreign powers which led to the
technical transition of power between president Abdullah Saleh supporters and
the revolutionaries.
In conclusion, for the citizens of those Arab monarchical
states and self imposed presidents and prime ministers that believe their leaders are puppets, they will still have to wait for
another revolution or better put, an evolution which might not be for now until
the advantages of Tunisia and Egypt revolution begin to manifest. But in the
event that, the Arab monarchs are still viewed in Western capitals as allies
that need not lose their absolute powers, Western powers will always come to
the rescue them against the wrath of their citizens, in order to avoid a re-occurrence
of the Western blunder which led to the 1979 Iranian revolution.
And if possible they will end up being constitutional monarchs similar to that of Britain when the second Arab revolution gets tougher.Related topics:
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