Arab Spring and Western Style Democracy

This is an excellent article regarding the Arab Spring, cultural diversity and Western style democracy.  It gathers insight into the Western false perceptions of the Middle East culture and the Arab Spring.  a must read

Middle East:  To Challenge the Patriarch

Repost from:  Ideas That Shape (ITS) Think Tank

Authored by Joseph Lerner, Edited by Col. Gordon Forbes (ret.)

© Copyright 2012 Ideas That Shape (ITS)

It is essential to be prepared for a possibility that the plans for implementing the Western-style democracy in Middle Eastern countries may be unsuccessful.  The Tunisian uprising ignited the Arab Spring, which had a domino effect that resulted in an uprising in Egypt and removal of Mubarak, the toppling of Gaddafi in Libya, an ongoing rebellion in Syria against the minority Alawite ruling class, led by Bashar al-Assad, and protests in Bahrain.  These events have been interpreted in the West as a desire for establishing Western-style democracy by the people of the Middle East.  However, those in favour of adopting Western-style democracy in the Middle East are in the minority and they were not instrumental in igniting the Arab Spring.

“This is not how the West, nor many Egyptians, thought the Arab Spring would turn out in Egypt. Their mistake was overestimating the significance of the democratic secularists, how representative the anti-Mubarak demonstrators were of Egypt as a whole, and the degree to which those demonstrators were committed to Western-style democracy rather than a democracy that represented Islamist values.” George Friedman, The Egyptian Election and the Arab Spring, Stratfor, May 29, 2012

In International Relations circles and amongst analysts the Arab Spring is perceived as a series of revolutions in the Middle East.  The term, Egyptian Revolution, was already used at the first gathering of the Egyptian people in Tahrir Square, who were demanding changes.  Comparing the Arab Spring to a revolution might be jumping to conclusions too soon.  Why?  The Arab Spring hardly consists of a series of revolutions in the Middle East.  The Arab Spring has been a series of decentralized and spontaneous uprisings and rebellions against oppression without having any clear, centralized leadership or well-structured political ideology.  Furthermore, one should realize that the circumstances that sparked the uprisings in most Arab countries were of an economic and social nature.   However, the uprising in Syria and Bahrain are of a political and sectarian nature.

During the Arab Spring, the reaction of many in the West, especially the mainstream media, was based on the misperception that the Arab Spring is a clear sign that the Middle Eastern people are eager to establish Western-style democracy.  For example, in October 2012 Doug Bandow in an article that was published by Forbes wrote: That blocking power is now at issue. While visiting Kuwait last week I increasingly heard people insist on creation of a government dependent on parliament, as in most Western nations. Some Kuwaitis even questioned the monarchy, whose ruling family goes back centuries in this region.

The cause of these uprisings was the oppression and frustration of the Arab population, especially the youths, who have no hope in planning for their future.  A majority of the youths in the Arab countries have no gainful employment and no means of supporting themselves, getting a higher education or developing skills that would lead to gainful employment.  Furthermore, the youths in these countries hardly have any proper social life.  All these frustrations and negative energies have been redirected towards uprisings, rebellions and in many cases the religious extremism in the Middle East.

“I don’t think the Arab Spring is necessarily a democratic manifestation, I think it is a populist manifestation,” Henry Kissinger, WSJ, May 21, 2011

The Middle East has a longstanding tradition of male leadership (patriarchy) that extends from the family to the structure of tribal elders and leadership of today’s nations.  For thousands of years the Middle Eastern nations have been ruled by kings and sheikhs.  Such form of leadership symbolically represents a king or sheikh as a father figure according to the traditions and cultures of the Middle East.  The king is the nation’s patriarch.  In the Middle Eastern traditions and cultures a nation is similar to that of a family.  The national unity of each Middle Eastern country, for thousands of years, has always been ensured under such a patriarchal model of governance.

Furthermore, similar cultural and traditional political structures could even be identified in Middle Eastern countries whose form of government is a Republic.  Today, in the Republic of Turkey, the Prime Minister plays a similar symbolic role to that of the great patriarch of the Turkish nation.  The same principle applies to the governing structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  The Supreme Leader of Iran is a Shiite religious leader who is a king archetype.  The word, supreme, alludes to such a concept.  People of the Middle East have a longstanding traditional, cultural and spiritual affinity with such concepts, symbolism and leadership archetypes that represent kingship and patriarchy.

Whether Western values and standards are compatible with the Middle Eastern traditions or cultures or not, the people of the Middle East highly respect and treasure their way of life.  Therefore, the West must realize and acknowledge that the Middle Eastern uprisings and rebellions are hardly an indication that the people of the Middle East are interested in adopting the Western values, culture or Western-style democracy.  Essentially the people of the Middle East want economic opportunity and a better life rather than Western-style democracy that is socially alien to them.

However, this does not mean that those who started the Arab Spring are not interested in certain elements of  Western-style democracy, like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly.  The traditions and cultures of the people of the Middle East hardly pose a threat to the Western values and way of life.  To develop a deeper understanding of such realities and to be able to better assist the region in economic advancement, Human Rights, stability and rule of law, it is necessary to learn about the traditions, cultures and history of the Middle East.  Western countries need to be flexible and adapt to these realities in their foreign policies and trade interactions with the Middle East.

Furthermore, it is important to realize and acknowledge that the Middle East is a region with many nations that are rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, precious metals and minerals.  The West needs the natural resources of the Middle East to be industrious and sustain its economic growth.  The Middle Eastern countries need to export their natural resources to the West and rest of the world to grow their economy and develop their infrastructure.  There is an undeniable symbiotic economic relationship between the West and Middle Eastern countries.  Therefore, trade, investment and infrastructure building need to become the central focus of the development of relationships between the West and Middle Eastern countries, within the context of International Relations, International Development and International Trade.

People of the Middle East enjoy and appreciate having Western high-tech and other products such as cars, smart phones, gaming devices and many more.  Furthermore, they are the consumers of Western entertainment, including movies and TV programs.  East and West share common economic and cultural grounds.

One wonders that whether Western-style democracy was really a proper lens to view the Arab Spring?  If it was yes, then to what extent?
The next question then is:  Are there forms of government that are compatible with both the Western interest in openness and the patriarchal traditions and cultures of the Middle East?  One might find some answers to this question.  However, regardless of how rational and pragmatic the solutions would be, the political and sociocultural obstacles in working towards such a model of governance will be:
b) how to gradually assist the Middle Eastern nations to install the concept of probity in the hearts and minds of each one of their citizens from an early age and throughout their public education.a) how to ensure that Human Rights violations, especially Women’s Rights, are properly addressed within the cultural and traditional context of each Middle Eastern nation; and 

Joseph Lerner is an Analyst who regularly writes about the subjects of International Relations, International Trade and Geopolitics.  Joseph has over two decades of experiences in strategic planning, communication strategy, project management, corporate training, geopolitical analysis, qualitative and quantitative research.  He has served in executive capacity and as expert advisor on various Board of Directors.  His formal education has been in Cultural Studies and Liberal Arts focusing on the areas of literature, political science, philosophy, classical composition and linguistics.  Joseph has extensive experiences in culture of trade and negotiations amongst various indigenous cultures and traditions of the Middle East and Mediterranean regions.  In the past, he has served as Campaign Strategist during Canada’s 2011 Federal Election running a successful War Room. In 2007 during the Ontario’s Provincial Election,  Joseph held the position of Communication Analyst and Strategist.  He is multilingual and has extensive experiences working in environments that benefit from diversity.  Furthermore, Joseph has produced numerous radio programs and has interviewing many celebrities, academics, dignitaries and politicians.

500 Egyptians protest in support of Gaza يديو

19 November 2012

At the break of dawn over 500 Egyptians stood in support of Gaza it is not clear exactly where this occurred, in Gaza or at the border.

Who is Sam Bacile?

Susan Brannon
Who is Sam Bacile pseudonym?
14 September 2012

I reported in "The Film that Sparked the Violence, Egypt, Libya" by using what I would call "credited" mainstream news reports, AP said that they interviewed Sam Bacile while the New York Times reported the same.  I used other outlets who all said the same thing, in the end I could not figure out why the Arab world was attacking American interests, when Bacile was quoted as saying that he was an Israeli Jew.  Later, I read a comment from the state of Israel saying that they could not find a Sam Bacile as a citizen, yet they could not explain more because they protect their citizens.  This left me with my syndical concepts, yeah, Israel would not admit such a thing.

Instead, I played the role of a journalist who took the story and added my opinion.  What I should have done was question the AP (?) who is to be credible and able to research who this Sam Bacile is, their contact and source.  It must have been a hot story to want to get it in the press so quickly without research if the person actually exists.  In the end the media and myself took a run on it.

So, what's the real story?  In Italy, the news is saying that Mr. Bacile is not Israeli but Egyptian, CNN quotes an anti-Muslim activist Steve Klein, who was a script consultant for the movie and was called, "Innocence of Bin Laden" to reveal "facts, evidence and proof" about the prophet Mohammed.  Klein stated that the man with the pseudonym, Sam Bacile, was upset about the events of the film and what happened to the ambassador.

We know that the trailers were translated into Egyptian dialects of Arabic and that the Egyptian television aired certain segments.  The fury followed.

CNN was able to interview some of the actors of the film, who reported an outrage for the producer for "misleading" them regarding the films contents and possible dubbing.  One of the staff told CNN that he knew the producer as Sam Bassil and that is how the check was signed.  He was 99% positive that "Bassil" was not Jewish and had several Madonna's in the home.

Rumors have it that this Bassil/Bacile is a Coptic Christian.  Sam Bassil had an indictment for a bank fraud conviction in 2009 for Nakoula Basseley Nokoula.  With aliases such as:  Mark Basseley Youssef, Yousseff M. Basseley, Nicola Bacily and Malid Ahlawi…were aliases in the indictment.  There is a list of other names on other indictments as well. Does any of these names have anything to do with the film and who produced it or is it just another false lead?

The Feds consider Sam Bacile/Sam Bassil to be Nakoula Basseley Nakoula…says Time magazine. He was tracked down Wednesday at his Los Angeles area home by the AP.  Nakoula denied having any connection to Bacile, that he managed "logistics for the film" However, as the investigation continues…the AP discovered that the cell-phone number used by the man who identified himself as Bacile to the press is registered to the same address where the reporter found Nakoula. It has also been reported by ABC that the police were summoned to Nakoula's home to provide extra protection.  However, asking the police for protection does not mean that he is the actual producer.

The mystery remains, who produced the film and who financed it?  We all know that it was a flop during the screening and someone took the July posting (who posted it?) and translated it into Egyptian Arabic to be shown to the Arab world.

In the end, the film has caused protesters aired their anti-American anger in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Violent mobs attacked the U.S. Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi leaving the ambassador and three other Americans dead.

Information taken from Time http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/09/13/friends-of-sam-bacile-a-whos-who-of-the-innocence-of-muslims-film-project/
CNN http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13/world/anti-islam-filmmaker/index.html

The Film that Sparked the Violence, Egypt, Libya

Susan Brannon
12 September 2012

The Israeli-Jew filmmaker, Sam Bacile, 56 went into hiding after his movie caused an international controversy in Egypt and Libya, where the American ambassador Chris Stevens was killed along with three others from his staff on Tuesday 11th September late in the evening. Sam Bacile defends his film saying, "Islam is a cancer and that he intended his film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion."

 In Egypt protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. embassy and replaced the American flag with an Islamic banner. While in Libya, the American consulate was attacked and came under fire by an angry mob in response to the film. Bacile expected something "like this to happen" to be the next Theo van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker killed by a Muslim extremist in 2004 after making a film that was perceived as insulting to Islam.

The film that triggered the violence is titled, "The Innocence of Muslims" and the movie trailer was released on You Tube on 2 July 2012. Someone dubbed the film into Egyptian Arabic with correct translations. Through the use of the internet through channels of "rumor-heavy" media, has been playing the highly offensive clips from the film. The word quickly spread around the globe regarding the continual insults towards the Islam Prophet Muhammad, violence, and sexual implications that insult the Islam religion.

The film costs $5 million to make and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors. The film claims that Muhammad was a fraud whose obedient followers act as a cadre of goons. Muhammad approves of child sexual abuse, adultery, rape and stealing of others goods. Mr. Bacile says, "The U.S. lost a lot of money and a lot of people in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we're fighting with ideas." He identifies himself as an Israeli Jew although he lives in California. He wants "the movie to help his native land by exposing Islam's flaws to the world". Bacile is apologetic about the American ambassador who was killed, but blames the embassy security in the failure of protecting the embassy. 

However, there are two sides to the story, one as an "artist/activist" who has the right to "be creative" and voice freedom of speech" and the second are those who belong to the Muslim the religion themselves. A filmmaker must understand that when he steps out to clearly insult those of another belief system, it will create havoc. In terms of the Jewish/Islam conflicts that have been going on for decades, this is without question a very delicate matter. As a filmmaker, to put oneself and others at high risk and to be willing to produce such insulting materials is arrogant and irresponsible to civil society.

Bacile, knowing that he was insulting the leader of millions of Muslims around the world, as an "American/Israeli" put our country, our leaders and people at a security risk around the globe. Already three people have been killed and the pot is now at the boiling point. The pot against the American people has been at a high simmer for a very long time, and it only took these insults to raise the heat. 

However, if Bacile clams to be an Israeli Jew, living in California, then why did the Muslims in Egypt and Libya attack the American embassy and consulate? Don't you think they should be attacking Israeli embassies instead? No, I am not anti-Semitic, quite the contrary but I can't understand why the uprising was set against the American people.

Even if I was Israeli, or Jewish, I would be angry because Bacile imposes his beliefs as representations of Israeli or Jewish beliefs.  Imagine if the film attacked Judaism in the same manner as it attacks Islam, the news outlets would not only focus on the "uprisings" without mentioning the film's name (as they are doing now), but I am sure that they would include the name of the film and details as to the attack against the Jewish religion with the Rabbis and Israeli Prime Minister making some anger statement for the film.

Yet, I do not believe that the Israeli's would attack the American embassy or consulates and kill innocent people.  I do not condone the violent actions against the American people, it is not the way to resolve the problem and it is not right.

However, it is the action like Bacile's has taken the lives of innocent people through his anti-Muslim attitude and this too is not right.  One life is too much when it is those who are standing on the sideline trying to get by day to day.  I am sorry that we lost our Ambassador to Bacile's arrogance.

Uprising in Egypt Continues, while the media says nothing

With three killed and more than 1,000 injured in street clashes with police near the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, the Egyptian government has promised to keep embassies in the country safe. But journalist Mohamed Abdelfattah believes it will be hard.
"I hope they can deliver on their pledge. But we have to understand why hundreds of thousands of angry Egyptians gathered last night outside the embassy. There is a lot of anger at what Israel did recently. They basically crossed the border from Israel into Egypt, killed a number of Egyptian soldiers, promised an investigation and nothing has yet been delivered," he explained.

Demonstrators in front of the Israeli Embassy were demanding that the Egyptian government expel the Israeli ambassador from Egypt. This is not the first time Israeli troops have killed people or soldiers in the border area.

"The Egyptian government has not responded to the will of demonstrators. They have not been serious enough to respond," added Abdelfattah.

The US defense secretary Leon Panetta called the leader of the interim military government in Cairo as soon as the unrest broke out and told him to step up the protection of the Israeli Embassy. According to Abdelfattah, the US reaction to what happened in front of the Israeli Embassy was much quicker than the reaction to what happened to their embassy in Syria.

"I would just like to see the US being a fair player in the region, not just supporting Israel at the expense of other parties," he maintained.

As Abdelfattah told RT, the Military Council which is in power in Egypt today has been promising to hold parliamentary elections in late November, but it is the Egyptian people that have to take everything into their own hands.

"After that they promised to hold presidential elections and finish the transfer of power. But these promises have been very vague. There is no tight schedule for any of them and there has been much doubt they are actually going to do that at all. The only guarantee for us to make sure the promises are delivered is to stay in the streets. As long as there are people in the streets pressing the Military Council to leave power, we will succeed," he concluded.

Egyptians attack Israeli embassy 09 09 2011

A wall has been constructed around Israel's embassy in Cairo after it became the site of violent demonstrations in recent weeks.
Work on the wall began several days ago.
Egyptian officials said the 2 and a half meter high wall was erected to protect the residents of the high rise embassy building but not the Israel Embassy.
Officials said it was to protect the lower floors of the building and prevent tensions between protesters and residents.
A diplomatic row erupted between Jerusalem and Cairo last month after five Egyptian security personnel were shot dead on the border with Israel by Israeli soldiers pursuing the terrorists who killed 8 Israelis near Eilat.

Egypt at the time threatened to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv and some called to end the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Propaganda: Egypt Opens the Gazan Borders

Susan Brannon-Robens
May 29, 2011 -When first read the article  “Egypt Gazan Borders Opens Permanently “Egypt Gazan Borders Opens Permanently” on the Huffington Post, I was ready to go outside and dance in the streets and then I wondered why others were not going outside and dancing? This was good news!
 
The borders opened between Rafah and Egypt allowing an unlimited number of Palestinians to cross the borders. There is an image of a cute young girl looking out a bus window. The short article says that it was written from Rafah, Gaza the reporter was in the field?
The Huffington reports, “Mohammad Zoarob, a 66-year-old suffering from chronic kidney disease. He said he had been waiting for a medical permit from the Palestinian health ministry for five years so he could go to Egypt for treatment. When Palestinian officials coincidentally approved the permit on Saturday, he kissed his family goodbye, rushed to the border and was quickly whisked across. "They put me in an ambulance and in five minutes I reached the Egyptian side of the crossing," he said.” Wow what great news, it is about time that the Gazans can breathe different air and have access to more food and medicines, not to mention obtain better water.

Because the article was only a few paragraphs, I decided to read more on the story using other media outlets. Searching on Google, I quickly read through mainstream headlines and first sentences. What struck me was that FOX, ABC, BBC, Reuters, Washington Post, and the Guardian  all had a similar view on the story. Borders are open to 1.5 million Palestinians and hundreds cross the borders. The stories were wonderful and joyous, with a few warnings on the Israeli concern for smuggling deadly weapons into Gaza for attacks against Israel.

Time Magazine’s headline had a different viewpoint, “All Quiet in Rafah: Egypt’s Gaza Border Opens Not with a Bang but a Whisper.” This headline reflected something quite different than the other news agencies. They seem to have reported a bit more of the reality: “Palestinian women and children, as well as men under the age of 18 or over the age of 40, are now permitted to enter Egypt for up to one month without a visa. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 may be granted permits to enter for reasons such as enrollment in Egyptian universities or a need for medical treatment. They go on to say, “And yet, opening day marked one of the slowest business days that Rafah Crossing had seen in years. Egyptian officials reported that roughly 400 people crossed into Egypt at Rafah on Saturday, and 153 into Gaza. To top it all off, the article continued to report that not a whole lot has changed, the reality is that to Gaza border never really opened it was already open, “Three days ago it was the same.” In the end, the Gazan border opening news story is just propaganda.

How does one decipher the different angles from this story?

The best way, is to go as close to the source as possible. I viewed three Palestinian news sites, and Al Jazeera. The Palestinian sites were: Maa’n ; PNN; IMEMC ; WAFA ; and The Palestine Chronicle Al-Jazeera and IMEMC did not cover the event, not even a peep. Maa’n reported from the perspective of the benefits for the businessman, and how it will help to “facilitate renewed efforts for the reconstruction of infrastructure and homes” along with some repeats from the US main news story, background and Israel’s concern.

PNN basically repeated what was said in the wires, but stressed that weapons will not be allowed through the border and added, “…the opening of Rafah crossing will not end the surfing of the residents but will help to ease its effect on them” Hamad added.” WAFA gave a short paragraph, stressing the hours that the border will be open.

However, The Palestine Chronicle went into depth regarding reactions from the locals and added that “things remain difficult at the border.” “Egyptian border officials collect passports for examination, and return a few hours later to read aloud the names of those allowed in, a large crowd gathers around them. Tensions soon escalate to yelling, and occasional tears.”

The Chronicle analyzed that, people at the border are a bit on edge and the Palestinians feel that the change is genuine, but are concerned that Egypt might be forced to go back to its old way. In the end, only 340-400 Palestinians crossed the border, this number is a few more than was allowed to enter previously.

The result is that the same restrictions still apply to the Gazans as it did before; nothing has really changed only the US and UK news made it into such a big event.

Then why are the US and UK mainstream media resources publishing this story, creating this propaganda and for who? Is it to release the pressure from the recent deaths and attacks at the flotilla from Israel on May 31st, 2010 before the next one comes over in June? Could it be that this Front Page news release had something to do with the ousting of Mubarak from Egypt, and the 53% opinion that supports to break the country’s peace treaty with Israel? The Telegraph points to Egypt's new ties to Iran and the Hamas while stressing the Israel concern and stability in the Middle East.

I wonder if the story is a precursory to portray Egypt as terrorist supporters while in the future will be the new addition to the America’s enemies list. The reality is that Israel has been highly concerned over the new developments in the surrounding countries such as Syria, Egypt, and Jordan in reference to their own security.

My hunch is that if one tiny shot or weapon fires into the Israeli side, Israel will put the pressure on Egypt to reduce the amount of Gazans that can go through and again tighten the hold of the Gazan population. When doing this, Israel will not look bad in the public’s eyes, because the Gazans had their chance and blew it, thus justifying keeping the prison closed.
In the future we shall find out.

'My People' By Yusuf Islam (song for Egypt)- EXCLUSIVE song

Dramatic video as thousands clash with Egypt riot police in Cairo

Uprising egypt - the true story

Egyptian police run away from protesters in cairo

اروع مشهد ستراه عيناك فى مصر روووعه EGYPT

Amazing: Egyptian Uprising