Lebanon’s history presents two important lessons
Published in The Canberra Times, 5 Feb 2011
http://bit.ly/tuvq1x
The current uprising in Egypt begs a compelling question of the American pro-democracy champions. In their narrative, their ally and benefactor, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is ostensibly one of our good guys.
The corollary is that the pro-democracy demonstrators must be the bad guys.
By definition, democracy must always be bottom up, bringing forth what the population wants not the American engineered top-down democracy, showering citizens with what they are deemed to need. How could successive American diplomats be so out of touch with the fact that Mubarak was so out of touch with his own people? Rather than spending America’s $1.3 billion to fatten Egypt’s armoury each year, and indeed defend Israel’s borders, the Americans could have stipulated that conditions apply. For example, feed the 40 million Egyptians (nearly half the population) who live on $2 a day, and educate the 30million Egyptians who are illiterate. The free-speech champion could have stipulated that ”emergency law” be abandoned so that legitimate opposition parties could emerge without fear of arrest and imprisonment.
Mubarak’s cloaked scaremongering about the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood ”adhering to their own agendas … [and] taking advantage of the protesters” is ironic. During his autocratic rule, the more dissidents were arrested and imprisoned, the more likely they would resort to religious movements. Mubarak had inadvertently empowered an underground movement of disgruntled citizens.
It takes an act of courage and desperation for the Egyptian protesters to risk their lives in public protests, knowing that they could be arrested.
Neighbouring country Lebanon, where I was born, understands people power and the slogans such as ”30 years enough is enough”. When the Cedar Revolution or ”million-strong march” took place in Martyrs Square in Beirut, on March 14, 2005, it led to the end of the 30-year Syrian occupation. The revolution was a direct reaction to the assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri, where fear was replaced with a fight for freedom. It was not until this bottom-up manifestation of democracy took place and the international spotlight zoomed in that the 15,000 Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon.
There are two historic lessons to be learned from the Lebanese experience. The first is that it is not until bottom-up democracy manifests itself en masse and people are killed that calls for regime change are taken seriously. The same calls by individuals had been met with persecution or assassination. The double standards of the pro-democracy Western allies are exposed and galvanised, showing the world that a government by, of and for the people is not a modern Western model, but a universal human aspiration.
Hence, the powerful images of the Cairo marches that were beamed across the globe had increased the temperature on Egypt’s President to respond honourably. It is tragic that it takes a bloody revolution for cries of fellow humans to be heard.
This is what irks me about a selfish focus on rescuing Australians who are ”trapped” in Egypt. The protesters are not just crying out to their president in Arabic; they are crying out to all of us in English. My children and I were caught up in Lebanon in 2006, during the Israeli-Hezbollah war. More than 1200 Lebanese were killed, so our relatives were more trapped than us. They had no other homeland to flee to via a waiting aeroplane. Such emotive language about Australians risks reducing the Arab land to a quagmire that is not worth understanding. It is as if once ”our Aussies” are back home, we can heave a collective sigh of relief, and the rest can be relegated to the rear pages of our news bulletins or someone else’s history books.
The second lesson is that the young pro-democracy Lebanese voices in the crowd on March 14, 2005, were not necessarily reflected in the eventual new government, a fragile coalition of political puppets, sovereign nationals, genuine intellectuals and anointed sons. We did not see the likes of the young generation of protesters elected into the new parliament. But after six years, this coalition was outnumbered. On January 26, a new Prime Minister, Najib Mikata, was elected, supported by the opposition parties, including Hezbollah. It is a chilling coincidence that the Tunisia-inspired Jasmine Revolution in Tahrir Square in Cairo commenced on the same day.
The aspirations of the courageous youth are not necessarily echoed in the eventual government and those waiting in the wings. It is not a forgone conclusion that an interim government would be led by Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, former director-general of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency. He has been living in self-exile in Vienna for over a decade and might not have the endorsement of the major opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, who in turn would need to work with the Coptic Christian representatives.
Ironically, United States President Barack Obama warned in his historic speech at Cairo University on June 4, 2009, ”There are some who advocate for democracy only when they’re out of power; once they’re in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others … you must respect the rights of minorities … elections alone do not make true democracies.”
The ancient Arabic proverb ”the enemy of my enemy is my friend” may be useful as a short-term strategy. Leaders are appointed as the enemy of the enemy, until they themselves become the enemy, or, as another Arabic proverb says, ”arrogance diminishes wisdom”.