The ball is in the governments' court as people demand the democratic voice they have been denied for too long.
Angry demonstrations in Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon (January 25) cast a spotlight on grievances throughout the Arab world that are often aired but rarely dealt with. For the first time in generations, dissidence is gathering momentum and many leaders seem rattled.
Egypt's Interior Minister urged the country's intellectuals to impart their wisdom on the “young people” that he said were clearly behind the protest movement. The elders have shown no intention of stepping in. They know the Tunisian revolt was driven largely by a disaffected middle class, not by the rage of a dispossessed youth. They know also that in Egypt, the ball is very much in the government's court.
In Syria, Jordan and Lebanon
Across the region, regimes are in the unusual position of having to prove their worth to people they have ruled over almost unchecked for decades. Two days after the Tunisian revolt, the Syrian government announced a social aid fund that would pay around $300m to the country's low earners and unemployed.
The scheme, talked about for many years, was launched by presidential decree and accompanied by a tripling of a heating fuel subsidy for Syrian families, from $12-$35 per month. The sudden burst of generosity has not been lost even on government-controlled media in Damascus, which described the timing as “a coincidence.”
Jordan's rulers have held a series of urgent meetings to discuss the implications of the Tunisian revolt, but have yet to announce any economic measures to placate the population. “They are on a nervous watching brief,” said a Jordanian official. “They know that if Tunisia spreads, there are a few steps before it gets to here.” In Lebanon, a “day of rage” has been called today by supporters of the ousted Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who faces an impossible task of forming a new government after his fragile coalition was abandoned earlier this month by the opposition bloc. Hariri won an ostensibly democratic election 18 months ago but has been plagued ever since by power plays and regional wrangling that has left the country and its institutions in turmoil.
His largely Sunni Muslim supporters claim their democratic will has been subverted by a creeping revolution launched three years ago by the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah opposition. Their anger has so far been contained to the country's Sunni strongholds, but it contains a counter-revolutionary zeal prompting observers to fear that today's civil disobedience could be the start of something far worse.
All of today's protests — both on the streets and in cyberspace — share a broad common theme: that people in this part of the world have been denied a democratic voice for too long. They also share a realisation that nepotism in government, sclerosis of institutions and lack of accountability need not be a given.— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011
This article has been corrected for a spelling mistake.
Keywords: Middle East crisis, Egypt unrest
Comments:
A promising sign of people's political consciousness. And mark that call to impart 'wisdom' to the youth! what a mockery. Even in this stage,the dictatorial regime in Egypt and elsewhere fails to understand that rage by dispossessed youth is in itself a good reason for people to revolt. Disaffected middle-class alone is and cannot be a criterion. The so called wisdom by the elders is nothing but a strategy of the dictators to cling to their hold and elongate the dictatorship.
Tunisia has made a remarkable step and this should serve as a stern warning for all those states which have failed to implement peoples democracy in their states.
Nevertheless, extra caution should be taken to avoid the kind of imperialistic and invasionist policies which America and its western allies had forced on Iraq (and elsewhere) in the name of democracy build-up.
Tunisian revolt is a warning to all the undemocratic & dictatorship government of middle east as time has come that people orientated government should come into power in Arab region.since long government
has taken faith & believe of the people granted by way of provoking
religious issues,now people of the region understand the importance of
development.
For far too long, the Anglo-American ruling cabal has been running with democratic hares and hunting with the despotic hounds of West Asia and North Africa (Incidentally I cant see why we should continue to use the west's meaningless terminology of 'middle east' .
West Asia and North Africa is part of India's near abroad (extending to the Indonesian archipelego in the east, the Antarctic in the south to Taklamakhan in the Gobi desert and the Steppes of Central Asia to the north) and we should our immediate neighbours in evolving and shaping their own destiny.
One thing is for sure. Whether it is a business enterprise, an industry, or even a household affair, authoritarianism, autocracy,and closed eye to the naked truths that is causing untold misery to the mankind, cannot be borne by anyone in any country for a period no longer tolerable. The world has already witnessed upheavals and turmoil that overthrew strongest powers in south east Asia not many years ago. The historical lessons are probably inadequate. The might of people is stronger than the might of the strongest Tsunami. Let equality and fairness prevail on earth.Live and let live.I trust for all the turmoil, there is always a peaceful truce and that is accepting the shortfalls before the subjects and pledge to reverse the situation in stipulated time frame amicably.