Democracy & Rationalism in the Middle East

IRD: Seyed Mohammad Sadegh Kharazi, in a “Popular Uprisings in the Arab World” meeting, referred to the differences between the Middle East of yesterday and today.  He said that if Eastern and Western circles ask which countries had the background and experience of taking steps toward democracy in the Middle East, the unanimous opinion would be that Iran and Turkey have had democracy and turning historical points in their histories. Now there are other countries in the Middle Eastern such as Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, and to some extent Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria and some influential wings of Hamas and Hezbollah, that are seeking democracy while creating new descriptions for political environments in Middle Eastern equations with their new emergence in socio-politics. But on the one hand we have some other countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Jordan and the UAE that are plagued by dictator regimes, and which are the symbols of domestic tyranny, radicalism and extremism.

These countries seek to keep the status quo of violence and horror in the region, and they try to impose extremism on the new situation to provide themselves with the opportunity to escape change. Kharazi said that the current authoritarian regimes, which cannot get along with democracy and have no understanding of coexistence, and try to act like an absent variable with their contradictory behavior, are the main elements of violence, insecurity and instability in the region. The lesson we can learn from the current democratic intifadas in the Middle East is that the more dependent the rotten regimes of these countries on world powers are, the faster and greater their decline and fall.

Sadegh Kharazi pointed to the military presence of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE in Bahrain, and claimed that this military presence has affected the order, stability and security of the region, and will create dispersion and crisis, while clearly standing in the way of the democratic movement of the people of Bahrain.

History has shown that tight fists and popular movements can overcome tanks and invading forces such as the Saudis.  However, in terms of international law, the military presence of these three countries in Bahrain- mainly to suppress unarmed and ordinary citizens- requires serious investigation and perhaps even conviction in the UN Security Council. Indifference in this respect is disrespect to human dignity.

The former Iranian ambassador to France added that the ongoing developments in the Middle East have missing rings, and have turned an identity crisis and the lack of a sense of nationalism into a revival of self-essteem and the redefinition of political variables. The developments have seriously challenged the traditional dominance of the West, including Europe, the US, and Israel; and as a result, their strategic dominance over the Middle East has become a legend in which all arrangements- even the partial peace process- have faced legitimacy and an acceptance crises.  The West no longer enjoys a strategic stability and it lacks the essential knowledge of the events in the region; therefore it is trapped in conflicts and paradoxes.

The accelerated steps that the Obama administration undertook in the political elimination of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt were undoubtedly considerable. In Egypt, the US was successful in diagnosing the crisis, and started negotiating with influential elements like the army, the youth, and parties including the Muslim Brotherhood, and was able to partially overcome the situation. The behavioral understanding of Egypt, which has always been the basis of extremist Islamic movements, is very important. Mubarak left power without resorting to violence. This fact proves the existence of forces beyond the army and the Egyptian people in this equation.

Sadegh Kharazi also said that the Middle East is defining a new self-imposed stability amidst the current instabilities and crises. Rationality and democracy are on the rise in this region. By glancing at our surrounding developments, we see democratizing thoughts being strengthened, and civil foundations becoming reformists. Purposeful developments, which pave the way for popular legitimizations while rejecting abstract ideas and incorrect interpretations of religion and government, have marginalized traditional rule and previous, useless views.

Experience shows the more dependent the governments during their term, the easier their decline.

While calling the past Arab-Israeli process a “flawed peace”, Sadegh Kharazi continued to state that this peace was flawed from the very beginning because it lacked the elements of truth and popular ideals in the region. Today, this flawed peace process, which was a two-decade attempt by the West to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, has faced a crisis of legitimacy. Now, the Israeli and American concern over the developments in the Middle East is very evident and quite serious. This emergent development of political and strategic stability in the peace process has undergone a metamorphosis as well.

Kharazi said that Israel has lost its confidence, and these days is seeking to create a diversion to attract the attention of the international community.  He also added that the West and Israel suffer from a weak understanding, a fear of security and regional stability. He harshly criticized the negligence of Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission in the imprisonments, executions, and suppression  of the Bahraini people, and also the double standards of the West in the Middle East developments.

He added that even though the nature of the suppression is different in Syria and Libya or Bahrain, they are all common in elements like governmental violence and crime and the silence of Arab fellow tribes. Nevertheless, from a legal perspective, the military forces of three foreign countries have been deployed to Bahrain and nightly executions are soaring in that country. How is it that the international community has been silent in this regard?

The main concern is extremism and radicalism in the region. Governments and the intelligence services of countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan, have become strategic allies of al-Qaeda in the region. In fact, there is an unwritten agreement between the Arab governments of the region and al-Qaeda to take practical steps in creating insecurity.

The intelligence services of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and even Qatar have direct contacts with al-Qaeda. Kharazi stated that he believed that there is an unwritten agreement of cooperation between the government officials of these countries and al-Qaeda, and that we should be sensitive about these movements.