Freedom on the march... maybe

Italian commentator Emanuele Ottolenghi, writing for Beirut's Daily Star, makes a case for the inevitability of freedom in the Arab world.

First, though, he explains why freedom has not come to most of the region, and why it is unlikely to do so anytime soon. What is holding things back, Ottolenghi says, is the short-sighted focus on elections as equal to, rather than part of, freedom.

"Our civilization," he writes, "demands a universal commitment – and our failure to live up to
it in the Arab world demands a reckoning. Is it the case that democracy cannot work there? Or is it just that the way democracy was promoted made one forget that its very essence is freedom, not elections?"

Before elections can begin to serve their function in a politically pluralistic society, he points out, that society must first be religiously pluralistic – or, in the case of the overwhelmingly Muslim countries of the Middle East, at least be tolerant of those who do not wish to observe religion.

Only then there came elections. But if people are afraid to openly disagree with conventional views, either because the state will punish them or because social pressure will silence them, there can be no freedom. Hence, the acid test of
democracy is not elections, but the ability to express one’s dissent on religion and politics without fear of the consequences. If going against the mainstream makes one an outcast and life and property can be lost, no ballot will ever generate democracy, only the illusion of it.

By rushing to elections without first creating the conditions for freedom to resist intimidation, democracy in the Middle East has been dealt a near death blow. Instead, the West should have recognized long ago that as long as the average Arab citizen is afraid to express his beliefs and convictions, thoughts, opinions, yearnings and aspirations, as long as Arabs live in fear of state repression and under social pressure to conform, they will not be free.

Although most of the article is pessimistic, Ottolenghi chooses to stress his belief that “freedom’s advance... can be delayed, but not ultimately denied.”

Of course, examples of the denial of freedom of personal expression still abound.

Such as in Iran (admittedly not Arab, but still very much tied to the Middle East and very relevant to this discussion), where the government is cracking down on anyone brazen enough to wear clothes or hairstyles considered unIslamic.

Or in Syria, where anyone lucky enough to have access to the Internet (only 6 percent of the populace!), already severly limited, are no longer allowed to read the web site of the Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal – owned by the family of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, assassinated in all likelihood by Damascus – or thousands of other sites that are blocked by the government.

...And, in case anyone needs a reminder that freedom of expression and religious pluralism are far, far from the norm, there is the whole fiasco surrounding the Muhammad cartoons to ponder.

To make a real change in the Middle East, Western powers ought to focus as much as possible on pressuring repressive regimes in the region to guarantee free expression. The rest will take care of itself.

Talking Turkey

The AK Party, otherwise known as the Justice and Development Party, has won a decisive victory at the polls in Turkey’s parliamentary elections.

A few short months ago, tens of thousands of secular Turks rallied to demand a secular president and insist that Ataturk’s revolution remain intact. So it is both unsurprising and praiseworthy that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, keenly aware of how sensitive the issue of Islamic rule in a secular state is, has pledged following his party’s victory to preserve the secular nature of modern Turkey.

One of the many interesting facets of this election is that, far from losing favor in a secularist backlash against its Islamist designs, AK actually increased its share of the popular vote over its last showing five years ago, rising from 34 percent to 48 percent. (In Parliament, that result will be even greater, with AK controlling about 60 percent of the seats.)

As The Economist points out, this popular support has a lot do with the strong economic performance of Erdogan’s government and the judicial reforms that it has enacted.

The English-language Turkish publication Today’s Zaman adds its own interesting take on the result – namely, that AK managed to position itself as the only true “centrist” party in Turkish politics.

Whatever the case, Turkey deserves a lot more attention than it gets in the West. Although it has a loooong way to go on its attempt to join the European Union, Turkey is arguably the Muslim country that is closest – not only geographically – to Europe. The way Turkey manages to balance Islam and secularism, furthermore, will have broad implications for countries throughout the Middle East.

Egypt’s Mustache War

Agence France Press alerts us to the intriguing Mustache War of southern Egypt:

CAIRO – When an elder was kidnapped in a clan dispute in conservative southern Egypt, the Al Arab family’s worst fears were soon realized – they received a package containing his mustache, local media reported Sunday.

The man himself was returned uninjured, but the use of the new shaving tactic sent shockwaves through the town of Mahrusa, near Luxor, 650 kilometers (400 miles) south of Cairo, where a man’s honor is measured by the size of his mustache, the Al-Gumhuriya daily said.

The conflict that started with a coffee shop brawl, swiftly spiraled out of control, with the Al-Arab carrying out a humiliating reprisal shave on a leading member of the Fallaheen family, followed by all-out battles with sticks and clubs. Police and community leaders then intervened, restoring a relative calm to the town, the paper said, with those worst hit by the conflict set to remain indoors for the coming weeks pending the regrowth of their manliness.

Let us hope that, in the face of this senseless aggression, all sides will, er, keep a stiff upper lip!

...Let us hope also that none of the victims was a member of the Egyptian Society for Special Mustaches, highlighted in this article.

One of the most prominent members is pictured above.

It’s the economy, stupid!

While Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tries to beat the United States and the rest of the Western powers in a nuclear stare-down contest, the greatest pressure on his government remains internal discontent with the failure of the Iranian economy.

Last week, a panel representing 57 economists made its plea for Ahmadinejad to change economic policies during a five-and-a-half-hour meeting with the hard-line president.

To quote an Associated Press report:

In a letter read in public during the meeting, the economists told the president his government was ignoring academic findings, wasting huge oil revenues, and enforcing policies that have provoked greater inflation and worsening economic conditions.

Ahmadinejad was elected on a populist agenda in 2005, promising to bring oil revenues to every family, eradicate poverty and tackle unemployment. His failure to keep those promises has provoked increasingly fierce criticism from both conservatives and reformists.

Housing prices in Tehran have tripled and prices for fruits, vegetables or other basic commodities have more than doubled since last summer. Inflation further worsened after a 25-percent hike in fuel prices in May. And some protesters burned down gas stations last month when fuel rationing was imposed.

“Excessive spending from oil revenues... won’t bring economic growth, but causes stagnation in the private sector, makes the size of the government bigger and causes greater inflation,” the economists told Ahmadinejad.

The economists called Ahmadinejad's government the wealthiest in Iran’s modern history due to soaring revenues from oil exports, but said it had failed to capitalize on this to remedy Iran’s economic ills.

Ahmadinejad's government has cashed in more than $120 billion in oil exports since it took over two years ago, an unprecedented figure.

(Despite that), Iran's Central Bank confirmed for the first time last week that inflation had registered at 14.2 percent despite Ahmadinejad’s promises to make it a single-digit figure. Some independent experts place the inflation rate at 30 percent or more.

Likewise, economists say the unemployment rate could be as high as 30 percent, though the government only acknowledges 10 percent.

So, Ahmadinejad is raking in more money than Iran has ever seen, yet his country’s economy is worsening. Not exactly a glorious revolution, huh?

No food for us, thanks – Allah will provide

Despite its people’s intense poverty, and despite the Gaza Strip’s almost total dependence on outside sources for food and basic materials, Hamas is banning produce from Israeli farmers.

That’ll show ‘em!

Sure, the move will be costly to Israeli fruit and vegetable growers, denying them an estimated $1 million a day in sales. But it will cost Gazans even more: some of the only decent food in their already meager diet.

(Note: When Israel uprooted some 8,000 settlers from Gaza two years ago, it decided not to dismantle dozens of greenhouses that the settlers had built and used to create a thriving agricultural industry. Rather than exploit this gift, however, the Palestinian Authority – then under Fatah control – allowed, and even encouraged, local Gazans to destroy the greenhouses.)

Hamas is literally biting the hands that feed it. And those hands are not only attached to farmers in the “Zionist entity”.

Close to 1 million Gazans rely on food aid from the United Nations. The World Food Program sends hundreds of tons of food – or would, if it could get through the border crossings.

There used to be three functioning crossings along Gaza’s borders: at Erez, in the north, used primarily by laborers who went to work in Israel; at Karni, in the east, used primarily for exchanging goods with Israel; and at Rafah, in the south, used primarily for travel to and from Egypt. All have been closed because of repeated Palestinian attacks – only making matters worse for those unfortunate enough to live in Gaza.

A highly secure, innovative crossing created in the wake of Israel’s withdrawal from the Strip in 2005 exists at Kerem Shalom, near Rafah and at a point where the Gazan, Egyptian and Israeli borders meet. Combining representatives of all three sides, the crossing was overseen by European inspectors/mediators. But after Palestinian gunmen attacked this vital crossing, too, the Europeans headed home.

This leaves Gaza with almost no help from the outside world. The effect, as one might expect, is paralysis. Just one consequence is that the UN is being forced to abandon its major construction efforts in the Strip, which not only provide shelter for locals but sorely needed employment as well.

Recently, despite having no mutually agreed protocol in place for the functioning of the Kerem Shalom crossing, Israel was delivering aid to Gazans through a secure portal there.

Now Hamas is undermining those efforts, too.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the “Zionist-controlled crossing of Kerem Shalom” was just part of a conspiracy by Israel and the pro-American Fatah leadership in Ramallah against the Palestinians in Gaza. How the delivery of food and building materials to some of the poorest people on the planet is a “plot” against them, Barhoum does not make clear.

What is clear is that Hamas is cutting its nose to spite its face. You could call Gaza a banana republic – if only Hamas would allow bananas in!

A martyr in drag

Last week, we brought you a female pharaoh who dressed like a man. This week, we have a Pakistani cleric caught hiding under a burqa.

Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, has long been both a place supported by government officials and a center of radical ideology. In recent months the conflict between those two realities erupted, with something of a localized rebellion against the government, complete with murders, kidnappings and the capture of a government building by some of the thousands of students at the mosque and its adjacent schools.

A government crackdown this week reached a crescendo with the deaths of almost two dozen at the mosque.

Although hundreds have given themselves up in exchange for a ride home, scores of men holed up inside declared that they “want only martyrdom.”

Women were given amnesty; Lal Masjid ringleader Maulana Abdul Aziz was discovered among them.

“We caught Abdul Aziz when he was trying to escape the mosque clad in a burqa. He did not offer any resistance,” said a Pakistani security official involved in the capture.

“He was the last in a group of women all wearing the same clothes. He was wearing a burqa that also covered his eyes,” the official said.

So how did the keen Pakistani police sniff out the wily outlaw?

“Our men spotted his unusual demeanor,” explained the official. “The rest of the girls looked like girls but he was taller and had a pot belly.”

Alan Johnston freed

You have to tip your hat to BBC reporter Alan Johnston – for a guy who was just freed from four months of captivity in the Gaza Strip, he sure has kept his wits about him. And his wit, too.

After speaking rather eloquently and artfully about his ordeal in the early-morning press conference following his release, the balding Johnston made a second public appearance later on Wednesday and explained that he had just shaved off the ring of hair that had grown in his captivity, so as to “get rid of that just-kidnapped look.”

:)

In addition to his humor, Johnston also showed considerable wherewithal – and understated courage – during his televised pow-wow with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. In a clearly awkward gathering, Haniyeh draped a Palestinian sash around Johnston’s neck as part of an attempt to portray the journalist’s release as evidence of the group’s new role as benevolent champions and law-and-order rulers of Gaza. Johnston managed to remove the sash without drawing too much attention.

Of course, if you’re falling for the Hamas-as-misunderstood-angels line, you probably haven’t read about their summer camp. The kiddies get a hot lunch, play some soccer, and fire off a few rounds on an AK-47. Memories to last a lifetime!

...At least at Summer Explosives Camp in Iowa, where teenagers get to blow up watermelons and concrete while learning about the construction industry’s demolitions management practices, the idea is to make things go “boom” for a benficial purpose.