I have been watching the recent events in Egypt with growing concern and confusion.  The people are clearly far from satisfied despite the fact that the hated Mubarak regime is long gone.  The sight of former President Hosni Mubarak being wheeled into a Cairo courtroom on a stretcher, and seemingly in a comatose state, has not been enough to satisfy the protest movement’s calls for revenge.  Continued protests on the streets of Cairo, and the death of over 70 supporters at a soccer match in Port Said late last week has confused me even further.  I am desperately tying to understand what the protest movement in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world is truly seeking.  More importantly, I am trying to figure out how this connects with the actions undertaken by extremist Muslims around the world.

Over the years, extremist Muslim countries have rejected western ideas and cultures.  They have done all that they can to show abhorrence to technological developments, political systems and popular cultures that the western world has embraced.  In many countries in the Muslim world, alcohol is prohibited, TV and Internet content is restricted and strictly policed and the participation of women in society is very limited.  Of course, these facts have never stopped citizens and even leaders of Muslim countries from touring abroad to enjoy the “vices” that are prohibited in their home countries.  It has also not stopped vast numbers of Muslims from departing the shores of their Muslim countries to set up home in the western world.  Despite this, the message has continued to be loud and clear, that the western world has it wrong when permitting such policies and behaviours.  Even extremist groups who have moved to live in western countries continue to preach this approach, almost like a subversive message from within the Muslim society that is trying to change the nature of the hosting country.  Although other groups such as ultra-Orthodox Jews and Bible Belt Christians have also rejected certain popular cultures in western countries, the type of actions undertaken by extremist Muslims have been on a much greater, and often violent scale.  These actions  frequently represent a threat to the government of the country, and the safety of its citizens.

Ironically, the message that I see coming out of Egypt, Syria and other Arab Spring countries is exactly the opposite of the one that rejects western cultures.  I see crowds of people turning on the traditional Muslim way of doing things, and trying to embrace western-style democracy, technology and freedoms.  It is a well-known fact that the revolution in Tunisia was fuelled by Facebook and Twitter messages, exactly the type of culture that the Muslim world has worked so hard to reject.

When the Egyptians succeeded in overthrowing the Mubarak regime a little more than a year ago, and managed to achieve their dream of having the right to vote for their chosen government, the first thing that the did was elect the Muslim Brotherhood.  It seems strange that they would support a party that is seemingly more extremist and less democratic than Mubarak ever was.  After all the protest, fighting and bloodshed to get rid of Mubarak, this is a choice for less choice.  The public has been so impatient for the new extremists to take over, that they have taken to the streets again in a bid to topple the military leadership that is temporarily running the country.  The act of football fans turning on each other at the end of a game in Port Said, all in the name of political protest, is even more difficult to understand.

Trying to make sense of all the mixed messages is fairly tough.  The only conclusion that I can reach, is that this is not a battle about the rights of individuals, or the ability to live a regular, safe life.  This is all about power.  In the first instance, it is about power over the individuals who live in the local country.  The less freedom of choice there is, the greater the power.  The less education and exposure to events and facts in the outside world, the greater the ability of the leadership to lie convincingly and to retain absolute power.  Having gained control and power in a local way, this can then be utilised to confront the seemingly larger powers of the world – the great western powers.  Being prepared to stand up to the international community and to the west is something that creates further power in the local country.  There is nothing more impressive than the leader of a relatively small or insignificant country being seen to hold great western powers to ransom.

The Palestinians have achieved this, especially Hamas in Gaza, where the general population has been kept in abject poverty and uneducated while their leaders live in relative luxury, and frequently keep their families living abroad.  The misery of the man in the street is blamed on the Israelis and the Americans, and on evil western culture.  These tactics have also been successfully deployed by Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood as well as by individuals like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Colonel Qaddafi, Arafat and many others.  Muslim leaders over the years have trained their people to live in this way, and have taught them to feel some level of comfort and security in the style of leadership which leaves little room for freedom and choice.  The Arab Spring, it seems, is not a protest against this style of leadership, but rather against those who have been the leaders.  Attempts to implement western-style democracy in places like Iraq and Afghanistan have left these countries riddled with violence, and in politically unstable situations.

Muslims seem to respect those who are prepared to assume control and power, and who are willing and able to talk tough.  They also seem to revere those who are prepared to kill innocent civilians, especially if these civilians are Israeli, Jewish or come from western countries.  Shows of weakness in the form of sensitivity and understanding earn little respect.  Those with the audacity to commandeer aircraft that crash into the World Trade Centre, or strap bombs to themselves to blow up restaurants and night clubs are regarded as heroes, and their families proclaim them as martyrs of the cause.  To those of us who have been educated in a different system of values, these actions seem warped and misguided.  This is the form of power that Muslims respect.  Launching missiles in a haphazard fashion into populated areas is power, and threatening to use military force to wipe a country off the face of the earth is power.  Allowing people the right to live in peace and security, when they wish the same for you, is weakness.

On this basis, the Arab Spring is simply a show of power against those who have held it for so long.  If the west believes that this is a process of implementing new political systems or an indication that values are changing, a surprise is on the way.  Those who make up the new leadership in the post-Spring period are more than likely to be the same as those who went before.  This will bring a new cycle of clinging onto power at all costs, and for extended periods of time, until the next power-hungry group displaces them.  If one uses these assumptions to explain behaviour in the Muslim world, many things fit into place.

It would be great to find a formula that is based on the giving and receiving of respect that allows citizens in Muslim and non-Muslim countries to live their daily lives without feeling physical or religious threat.  It would be good to find a formula that allows citizens in Muslim countries the right to political self-expression, and facilitates the smooth transition from our government and leader to another.  These formulae have been found and implemented in many western countries, alas they are lacking in the Muslim world.  With no indication that they can be achieved anytime soon, prospects for more than 2 billion of the world’s population is not optimistic, and will continue to contribute to high levels of instability around the world.

Photo by Vancouver Sun.

{ 0 comments }