ME Movements are not Anti-West in Nature

28 March 2011 | 02:43 Code : 10802 Middle East.
By Dr. Sadeq Zibakalam, a professor of political sciences at Tehran University
ME Movements are not Anti-West in Nature
IRD: In my opinion, the most important international event in 1389 was the developments in the Arab world, occurring in the last few weeks. The reason to consider the uprising in the Arab world as the most important one is the long-term consequences of the developments for the entire Middle East and North Africa. I think this development will affect all regional countries including Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. These effects may not be tangible in the short term, but in the long-term, developments will have a fundamental and substantial impact on the entire region.

Unlike the common narrative in our country to portrait the movement as anti-American, anti-Western and inspired by anti-West and anti-US trends in Iran’s foreign policy, these movements have no relationship to the ideology governing Iran’s foreign policy.

Our foreign policy officials insist these movements are associated with Iranian anti-West foreign policy while in my opinion, they are neither anti-West nor anti-US (or anti-Europe), namely, these movements are not basically in conflict with any culture and civilization, but all are against tyranny and dictatorship, ruling over the Arab world and Northern Africa.

In these movements, formed and continuing in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries in the last months of last year, people seek political freedom and free elections. The people are looking to having governments in these countries that are completely managed by the will of the people and responsible before the people: governments that respect the civil rights of their people, and do not consider themselves superior to the people.

The people of these countries demand the rule of law and a responsible and accountable government in each country whose authority and mandates are decided according to law. That is a demand which the Muslim people of the countries have been deprived of for years and centuries.

On the other hand, the fact needs to be acknowledged that in these movements, all classes and strata in Arabic countries; including Muslims, secularists, liberals, leftists and others, and intellectual, political and religious trends, participate. Hence, in the future, when these movements are able to overcome tyranny and dictatorship, the government that the people elect in a free election may be Islamic.

Fifty-one percent of the people can form an Islamist government in Egypt or Syria. There is such a possibility, but they are future issues and concerns for the movements. Currently the main struggle in these countries is over having free elections.

Despite the successes of these movements in various Arab countries, a movement could not do anything significant in one of the most important Middle Eastern countries, namely Syria, which I think is a stronghold of tyranny, dictatorship, and autocracy.

The interesting and instructive point taken from the recent developments in the Arab countries is that the regimes considered as anti-American and anti-Imperialist, like that of Gaddafi in Libya, massacre their own people and the regimes considered as pro-American like those of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt or Ben Ali in Tunisia, refused to open fire on their people.

Ultimately, it must be noted that the democratic movement formed in the Arab world is the most important event in that world and Islamic countries. However, early success should not be expected for this movement. We should not forget that tyranny and despotism have historical roots in the Arab and Islamic countries, and we should not expect that autocratic persons or the strata ruling over these countries for years will leave the power easily. Especially given that a number of them have substantial revenues earned through the sale of oil.

Hence we should not expect that democracy and freedom will soon become dominant in the Arab world. However, I suppose that the future of the Arab world and the Middle East holds that democracy and freedom, like the model that currently exists in Turkey, will come to pass.