Thursday 1 November 2012

HOW THE ARAB REVOLUTION WAS STOLEN FROM THE PEOPLE.


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.

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